Long-term smoking cessation may attenuate the detrimental effect of cigarette smoking on oncologic outcomes among patients who undergo surgery for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), a study found.
The study included 2,054 patients with NMIBC who underwent transurethral resection of the bladder. Former smokers who had stopped smoking 10 or more years prior to surgery had a 34% decreased risk of disease recurrence and a 58% decreased risk of progression compared with current smokers, researchers reported online in European Urology.
The study, led by Shahrokh F. Shariat, MD, of Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, also showed that compared with patients who never smoked, current and former smokers have a 22% and 12% increased risk of disease recurrence, respectively, and a twofold and 29% increased risk for disease progression, respectively.
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The study findings underscore the need for integrated smoking cessation and program in the management of NMIBC patients, according to the investigators.
Dr. Shariat’s group also found that as smoking intensity decreased, so did the risk of adverse oncologic outcomes. Compared with “heavy long” smokers—those who smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day (CPD) for at least 20 years—“heavy short” smokers (20 or more CPD for 19.9 or fewer years and “light short” smokers (19 or fewer CPD for 19.9 or fewer years) had a 57% and 65% decreased risk of disease recurrence, respectively, and an 88% and 95% decreased risk of progression. “Light long” smokers (19 or fewer CPD for 20 or more years) had a 9% decreased risk disease recurrence and a 57% decreased risk of disease progression.
Based on the study findings, the authors concluded: “General health practitioners and urologists may play an important role in informing smokers regarding their risk of UCB [urothelial carcinoma of the bladder] development and progression as well as the benefits of smoking cessation.”
