Racial Disparities in Smoking Cessation among Cancer Survivors

It has been estimated that there are 25 million cancer survivors around the world. Continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis is linked to adverse effects among cancer survivors on overall survival, treatment effectiveness, and quality of life. Little is known about who tends to quit smoking after his/her cancer diagnosis. The objective of this study is to closely evaluate factors associated with smoking cessation in cancer survivors, which to date has not been well studied. In this study, behavior data of 1,798 cancer survivors who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999-2006 were analyzed. It was found that 59.9% of cancer survivors were smokers but only 38% of them quit smoking after their cancer status were confirmed. By the use of logistic regression model it was found that older cancer survivors were more likely to quit smoking after cancer were diagnosed (OR=2.0, 95%CI=1.6-2.5, in 10 year increments). Moreover, race disparity was observed in smoking cessation among cancer survivors. After they were diagnosed to have cancer, more African Americans than Whites were likely to quit smoking (OR=2.7, 95%CI=1.3-5.6) while less Hispanics than Whites would quit smoking (OR=0.4, 95%CI=0.2-0.8). No significant difference was observed in education, income or marital status. Tailored smoking cessation interventions are needed to effectively decrease smoking rates among the growing number of cancer survivors. This study is about smoking cessation and it suggests targeting cancer survivors with younger, and Hispanics might benefit most from cessation treatment.