The effect of tobacco and alcohol and their reduction/cessation on mortality in oral cancer patients: short communication

Abstract

BackgroundThe use of tobacco is known to increase the incidence of developing oral cancer by 6 times, while the additive effect of drinking alcohol further increases the risk leading to higher rate of morbidity and mortality. In this short communication, we prospectively assessed the effect of tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking in oral cancer patients on the overall mortality from the disease, as well as the effect of smoking and drinking reduction/cessation at time of diagnosis on mortality in the same group.Materials and methodsA cohort, involved 67 male patients who were diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma, was included in this study. The smoking and drinking habits of this group were recorded, in addition to reduction/cessation after diagnosis with the disease. Comparisons were made to disease mortality at 3 and 5 years.ResultsFollow-up resulted in a 3-year survival of 46.8% and a 5-year survival of 40.4%. Reduction of tobacco smoking and smoking cessation led to a significant reduction in mortality at 3 (P < 0.001) and 5 (P < 0.001) years. Reduction in drinking alcohol and drinking cessation led to a significant reduction in mortality at 3 (P < 0.001) and 5 (P < 0.001) years.ConclusionChronic smoking and drinking does have an adverse effect on patients with oral cancer leading to increased mortality from cancer-related causes. Reduction/cessation of these habits tends to significantly reduce mortality in this group of patients. Smoking and drinking cessation counseling should be provided to all newly diagnosed oral cancer patients.

Systematic Review of Tobacco Use after Lung or Head/Neck Cancer Diagnosis: Results and Recommendations for Future Research

“…Likewise, information on post-cancer diagnosis quit attempts, continuous abstinence, and/or tobacco cessation treatment use was omitted from all but a handful of papers (35, 39, 42, 44, 51-54, 56, 60, 73, 75, 80, 82, 83, 87, 90, 97, 103, 112, 129). Given limited data, we chose not to aggregate findings across studies.…”

Does Quitting Smoking Make a Difference Among Newly Diagnosed Head and Neck Cancer Patients?

“…15,16,24 However, other studies fail to show a significant difference in mortality based on smoking status after controlling for covariates. [25][26][27][28] In the head and neck cancer literature, smoking significantly increases overall mortality and cancer-specific mortality, 10,21,23,[29][30][31][32][33][34] and pack-years of smoking has a dose-response positive relationship with mortality, 23,30,35 yet some studies reported nonsignificant differences in overall mortality [36][37][38][39] and cancer-specific mortality 37,40 between smokers and nonsmokers. However, previous studies are limited by a one-time smoking assessment at or after diagnosis (mostly at diagnosis), their retrospective nature, inability to control for covariates, and short follow-up periods.…”

Addressing Tobacco Use in Patients With Cancer: A Survey of American Society of Clinical Oncology Members

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Tobacco cessation may improve outcomes in cancer patients, [11][12][13][14][15] and tobacco use assessment and cessation support are advocated by several national organizations including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). 16 Recent guidelines have been developed by ASCO to help increase tobacco assessment and cessation, 17 but considerable work remains to provide tobacco cessation support for patients with cancer as part of standard clinical practice.…”