Cancer patients continue to smoke, research finds

Many people diagnosed with lung and colorectal cancers continue to smoke, an American study has discovered.

At diagnosis, some 39 per cent of lung cancer patients and 14 per cent of colorectal cancer patients were still smoking five months after diagnosis.

A further five months later, 14 per cent of lung cancer patients and nine per cent of colorectal cancer patients were continuing to smoke.

While the study was conducted across the pond, the results may suggest a similar trend in the UK.

When a patients receives a cancer diagnosis it is essential that they stop smoking, as it can negatively affect a patient's response to treatments, their subsequent cancer risk and their survival.

Dr Elyse R Park, who led the study, commented: "These findings can help cancer clinicians identify patients who are at risk for smoking and guide tobacco counselling treatment development for cancer patients."

Smoking is also believed to increase the pain felt by cancer patients if they continue to indulge their habit after diagnosis.

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