• 8/1/2006
  • Memphis, TN
  • staff
  • CancerConsultants.com

Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a part of the World Health Organization) located in Lyon, France have reported the findings of a meeting of seventeen scientists from eight countries concerning the evidence that smoking cessation has definable health benefits. The details of this summary were reported in the July 29, 2006, issue of The Lancet.

Smoking is the cause of 85% or more of all lung cancers. Smoking also increases the incidence of other cancers such as cancer of the head and neck, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, kidney, urinary bladder, cervix, ovaries and breasts. Factors determining a smoker’s risk for cancer include the number of years the person has been smoking, as well as the number of cigarettes smoked each day. Previous studies have shown that men who quit smoking can significantly reduce their risk of developing lung cancer. The benefit of quitting has been observed even if the men waited until middle age to do so. The following observations were made with regard to smoking cessation and cancer:

– Although persons lower their risk of lung cancer by stopping, they always have a higher risk than never smokers.
– Risk for laryngeal cancer decreases with time with reductions of over 60% at 10-15 years.
– Risk for oral and pharyngeal cancers decreases over time but remains higher than non-smokers.
– Risk for stomach cancer decreases with time after cessation, but little is known about long term benefits after smoking cessation.
– Risks for renal cell, pancreatic cancer and bladder cancer are reduced but are still higher than non-smokers after 15-25 years of non-smoking.
– Non-cancer causes of morbidity such as coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular diseases, aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease, chronic obstructive lung disease and bronchitis are all reduced with smoking cessation.

Comments:
These authors concluded that there is overwhelming evidence that smoking cessation has health benefits. However, they point out that rarely does risk decline to that of non-smokers. Thus, former smokers should be encouraged to undergo appropriate cancer screening as they are at a higher risk for most cancers.

Reference:
Dresler CM, Leon ME, Straif K, et al. Reversal of risk upon quitting smoking. The Lancet. 2006;368:348-349.