Abstract
Introduction: Cancer survivors who continue to smoke are at increased risk for primary cancer recurrences or development of new malignancies. Risks may be even higher among Tobacco Related Cancer Survivors (TRCS). We provide a national report on smoking behavior among TRCS.
Methods: Tobacco-related cancers (lung/bronchial, pharyngeal, esophageal, stomach, pancreatic, kidney/renal, urinary bladder, cervical and leukemia) are defined according to the 2004 report of the Surgeon General on The Health Consequences of Smoking. Data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were used to describe demographic characteristics and tobacco use behaviors reported by TRCS, other cancer survivors and the non cancer BRFSS cohort. Self reported prevalence percentages and confidence intervals were calculated using SAS version 9.2 (SAS Institute, Inc, Cary, North Carolina).
Results: Overall, 10% of BRFSS respondents reported being diagnosed with cancer. Approximately 17% of all cancer survivors were diagnosed with a tobacco related cancer. Survivors in this group were primarily white (85.4%) and female (71.9%). Approximately 8.8% of TRCS were Hispanic. TRCS report a substantially higher proportion of current and past tobacco use. Among TRCS, 68% (95%CI 66.0-69.0) reported a history of smoking and 27.1% (95%CI 25.4-28.9) reported currently smoking; among other cancer survivors, 45.7% (95%CI 45.4-45.9) reported a history of smoking and 27.6% (95%CI 27.3-27.9) reported currently smoking.
Conclusion: When compared to other cancer survivors, persons diagnosed with tobacco related cancers have higher past and current smoking rates. Smoking cessation interventions should target TRCS, and increased surveillance of smoking behaviors is needed in this population.
Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(12 Suppl):B90.
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