Quitting Smoking Yields Health Benefits Even After Lung Cancer Diagnosis

New York, New York—With approximately 5 million deaths per year attributable to smoking, the largest preventable cause of mortality, quitting smoking is one of the most important things you can do for your health, explained Laura Jean Bierut, MD, Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in her presentation at the 2019 Perspectives in Thoracic Oncology meeting.

Speaking directly about the lung cancer patient population, she posited that smoking status should be documented in patient health records and updated at regular intervals to indicate changes in smoking status, attempts made to quit, and interventions utilized.

“There are health benefits to smoking cessation even after a cancer diagnosis, regardless of stage or prognosis, namely improvement in cancer treatment outcomes, disease recurrence, and secondary cancers,” Dr Beirut said.

“Combining pharmacologic therapy and behavior therapy is the most effective approach and leads to the best results for smoking cessation,” she continued, adding that the 2 most effective pharmacotherapy agents are combination nicotine replacement therapy and varenicline.

Dr Beirut also spoke about the efficacy of behavior therapy.

“High-intensity behavior therapy with multiple counseling sessions is most effective, but at least a minimum of brief advice is highly recommended. Quitlines (such as 1-800-QUIT-NOW) may be used as an adjunct, especially in lower-resource settings,” she said.

Dr Beirut then discussed the trending use of e-cigarettes, which, although not FDA-approved smoking cessation devices, expose users to fewer toxic substances than combustible tobacco cigarettes.

Citing the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine, she said that aside from nicotine, exposure to potentially toxic substances is significantly lower with standard use of e-cigarettes versus combustible tobacco cigarettes.

In addition, she said that definitive evidence shows that by substituting e-cigarettes for combustible tobacco cigarettes, users reduce their exposure to numerous toxicants and carcinogens found in combustible tobacco cigarettes.

“Smoking cessation after a cancer diagnosis extends life and reduces morbidity associated with treatment. Patients should be encouraged to use the most effective, evidence-based methods to quit the use of combustible cigarettes,” Dr Beirut concluded.—Hina Porcelli