Nearly one in 10 long-term cancer survivors play with fire by continuing to smoke, a new study shows.
Smoking rates are especially high among those who had cancers strongly linked to smoking, such as lung and bladder cancer, say researchers who questioned nearly 3,000 survivors nine years after diagnosis. The results are published Wednesday in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
The study suggests “just how difficult it is to quit,” even in the face of dire health consequences, including cancer recurrence, says lead author Lee Westmaas, an American Cancer Society researcher.
The researchers assume almost all of the smokers had smoked before their cancers, Westmaas says. They estimate that one-third of the people who were smokers when diagnosed with cancer quit, while two-thirds continued.
The overall smoking rate among cancer survivors was 9.3% — about half the rate found among all U.S. adults. Bladder and lung cancer survivors had rates of 17.2% and 14.9% respectively. Lower rates were found in survivors of melanoma (7.6%) and colorectal cancer (6.8%).
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