A Sizeable Number Of Cancer Patients Continue Smoking After Initial Diagnosis

Investigators who looked at smoking data on 5,338 lung and colorectal cancer patients found that five months after diagnosis, 14 percent of lung cancer patients and nine percent of colorectal patients were still smoking. Thirty-nine percent of lung cancer patients, and 14 percent of colorectal cancer patients, were smoking at the time of diagnosis. The findings suggest that more effort is needed to encourage cancer patients who smoke, especially colorectal cancer patients, to quit smoking after their initial diagnosis and provide counseling and other types of support during the process.