Is the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer Effective in Smoking Cessation?

Abstract

Objectives: Global cancer burden is increasing day by day. The most important cause of death is lung cancer all over the world and the most common cause of lung cancer is cigarette. The aim of the study was to determine how the smoking status was affected after the diagnosis of lung cancer and to determine the factors affecting the smoking cessation.

Methods: Our study is a descriptive study with 410 patient diagnosed with lung cancer in a training and research hospital in Izmir between January and December 2017. The socio-demographic characteristics of the patients, smoking history, smoking status after the diagnosis, the duration of smoking cessation after the diagnosis, the relationship between smoking and lung cancer disease were investigated.

Results: Our study consisted of 410 people who have been diagnosed with lung cancer and who have been a history of smoking. The mean age of the patients was 60.41±1.62 and 257 (62.7%) patients were male. It was determined that 56.8% of them were primary school graduates, 54.9% were working,%41.7 of them lived in provinces and 53.2% of them did not use alcohol. 256 patients (65.4%) had one or more additional diseases besides to lung cancer, 255 patients (62.2%) had a family history of cancer and 66.1% of them had no history of lung surgery. The median age of smoking was 15 years and the median duration of smoking was 45 years. The median number of cigarettes smoked daily was 20. Male patients have stopped smoking more than female patients (p=0.000). Smoking cessation rate was significantly higher in non-alcoholic group (p=0.000). Smoking cessation rate was higher in the first year of after the diagnosis of lung cancer(p=0.000).Smoking cessation rate was significantly higher after the diagnosis of lung cancer (p=0.000).

Conclusion: The majority of the patients had quitted smoking after the diagnosis of lung cancer. Lung cancer diagnosis is an important factor in smoking cessation.