Risks for all-cause mortality, cancer-specific mortality, disease progression reduced for those quitting after diagnosis.
For patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), smoking cessation after diagnosis is associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality, cancer-specific mortality, and disease progression, according to a study published online July 27 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Mahdi Sheikh, M.D., Ph.D., from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, and colleagues examined whether quitting smoking after lung cancer diagnosis affects the risk for disease progression and mortality in a prospective study of 517 current smokers diagnosed with early-stage NSCLC.
The researchers identified 325 (63.8 percent) deaths, 271 (53.2 percent) cancer-specific deaths, and 172 (33.7 percent) cases of tumor progression during an average of seven years of follow-up. Compared with those who continued smoking, those who quit had an adjusted median overall survival time that was 21.6 months higher (6.6 versus 4.8 years). Compared with those who continued smoking, those who quit had higher five-year overall survival (60.6 versus 48.6 percent) and progression-free survival (54.4 versus 43.8 percent). Smoking cessation remained associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality, cancer-specific mortality, and disease progression after adjustments (hazard ratios, 0.67, 0.75 and 0.72, respectively). Among mild-to-moderate and heavy smokers and for patients with earlier and later cancer stages, similar effects were observed.
"Given that at least 50 percent of active smokers with NSCLC are thought to continue smoking after diagnosis, this provides an important opportunity to substantially improve overall and progression-free survival in this type of cancer," the authors write.
Hi 2greys ,i haven't got cancer ,but my last breathing test a few weeks ago read 29% so I have gone into the severe range ,my trouble is 2greys and I am embarrassed to say that I am still smoking ,I have had every aid going, I just carnt get it into my head ,like your post my specialist says if I stop it may slow down the copd ,still can't stop ,what the hell is wrong with me that I can't stop,normally a determined person ,theses cig have such a addictive grip of me ,glad you put this post on ,I am going to read it agian and agian ,I am sure it is the same with any lung disease were smoking is concerned stopping would help ,thanks you for info
To be perfectly honest, I was literally forced into giving up. I was so ill that I was coughing up a gallon of mucus per day, I could not smoke. I would roll one up light it and on the first puff go into an uncontrollable fit of coughing for an hour. Night time was a nightmare not knowing if I was going to wake up unable to breathe yet again. Eight weeks later I was in the Recovery Department on oxygen and told I had badly hyper inflated lungs and probably had Emphysema. At that point after getting over that hurdle of going without a cigarette for 8 weeks and finding out just what Emphysema was, I vowed never to start again, which fortunately I have not.
I had tried to quit so many times before, the longest for a week, before climbing the walls and caving in. So I can empathise with just how hard it is. Two years later you can imagine the horror that I felt, to hear the consultant's words "You have Lung Cancer" after a having a PET scan. Wishing that I had never starting smoking, well aware of having watched what a friend went through before dying in agony from lung cancer. Then a few months later at a consultation with a surgeon given the bad news that I had failed the fitness for surgery tests and given the dire consequences of having surgery attempted.
I then elected radiotherapy with the words 'Palliative Treatment' all over the paper work and the consent form (before I knew exactly what palliative actually meant). The first two years, post treatment, having that apprehension every six months when it was time to see my Oncologist, with a lump in my throat, knowing that only a small percentage survive longer than five years. I finished my treatment in May 2018, I still have a long way to go yet.
All because of a few scraps of dried leaves rolled up in a paper wrapping.
I really do hope you can manage to quit, it is extremely hard to do, as I already know.
Have you asked your GP to try Champix (also called varenicline) is a medicine that can help you stop smoking. It reduces the cravings for nicotine and helps with the withdrawal symptoms you get when you stop smoking. These can include an urge to smoke again, feeling depressed or irritable, and difficulty sleeping. Champix is only available on prescription and comes as tablets.
I am sorry to read about your condition ,I am so glad that under your cercomstances that you managed to give up smoking ,after reading what you have to say,I will do my best and try agian,I no that I am the only person that can do it that no one else can do it for me .Iam unable to take any of the tablets you mention,I have tried them in the past ,I am really glad for you that you are doing well on your past treatment and hope the same for any future treatment .I send you my best wishes for a happy healthy future .I watch out for your posts as I find them interesting. Thank you 2greys
No need to be sorry, I have found an inner strength that I did not know that I had and can now deal with it all. But do you posses the same strength? I really hope that I have given you some insight, enough to be able to muster the determination to be able to finally quit.
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