Loay Kassem: Why do I need to quit smoking? – An important question I get from my patients

Loay Kassem, Assistant Professor of Clinical Oncology at Kasr AlAiny School of Medicine, Cairo, shared a paper Paul M. Cinciripini and colleagues authored on LinkedIn:

“I already got cancer. Why do I need to quit smoking?

This is an important question I get from my patients.
I usually answer that quitting smoking is better for general health and might be associated with better response to cancer treatment. But is there a strong evidence?

A prospective cohort study of 4526 smokers diagnosed with cancer and who were offered a smoking cessation intervention at MD Anderson cancer center was recently published in JAMA Oncology could give a CLEAR ANSWER.

Survival rates were improved by 25% for up to 15 years in those quitting smoking at 3 months from being diagnosed with cancer (HR: 0.75).

This improvement was much less in those who quit smoking at 6 or 9 months after diagnosis.
Patients who quit later than 2 years didn’t gain such benefit.

My strong advice to all smokers who get diagnosed with cancer:
Quit smoking ASAP.”