Continued Smoking Increases Pain From Lung Cancer

Main Category: Lung Cancer
Also Included In: Smoking / Quit Smoking;  Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 19 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT


Smokers who still refuse to kick the habit after being diagnosed with lung cancer experience higher levels of pain from the disease than nonsmokers and former smokers, according to research reported in The Journal of Pain, http://www.jpain.org, the peer-reviewed publication of the American Pain Society, http://www.ampainsoc.org.

Duke University researchers surveyed some 900 lung cancer patients and classified 17 percent of them as persistent smokers. The objective of the study was to assess the relationship of smoking status after a diagnosis of lung cancer with ratings of usual pain. Several studies have examined the effects of continued smoking after a lung cancer diagnosis and found that it impairs healing, lowers efficacy of cancer treatments, hampers overall quality of life, increases risk for recurrence and secondary tumors, and decreases survival.

The study results showed that patients who continued to smoke after diagnosis reported higher levels of pain and other lung cancer complications, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, than non smokers and former smokers. The authors concluded that pain coping skills training should be included in smoking cessation protocols for lung cancer patients who have not stopped smoking.

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