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Smoking cessation and reduction in risk of head and neck cancers

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Smoking cessation within 6 months of a cancer diagnosis:

  • a cohort study (n=4,526) found smoking cessation treatment initiation within 6 months of cancer diagnosis had the largest benefit (survival increase from 2.1 years among continuing smokers vs 3.9 years for abstainers)

Smoking cessation and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients:

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients who are current smokers when diagnosed have inferior clinical outcomes compared to never-smokers or previous smokers.

A retrospective, case-control study (n = 134) showed that (2):

  • odds of complete response to first-line therapy were 3.7 times higher among smokers at diagnosis who quit before treatment initiation (quitters; n = 55) than among those continuing to smoke (p = 0.03)
  • disease-free survival was also higher among quitters (aHR, 0.33; 95 % CI, 0.12–0.90; p = 0.029)
  • quitters were 67 % less likely to die of all causes than active smokers (aHR, 0.33; 95 % CI, 0.15–0.71; p = 0.004)

A systematic review and meta-analysis found (3):

  • smoking cessation reduces risk of head & neck cancer by ~half with strong effect on duration of cessation.
  • a protective effect is apparent within first 5 years of cessation
  • risk of head of neck cancers is comparable to non-smokers after 20 years of cessation

Reference:

  1. Krutz M et al. Tobacco cessation after head and neck cancer diagnosis is an independent predictor of treatment response and long-term survival. Oral Oncol. 2022 Nov;134:106072. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2022.106072.
  2. Khalifeh M, Ginex P, Boffetta P Reduction of head and neck cancer risk following smoking cessation: a systematic review and meta-analysis BMJ Open 2024;14:e074723. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-074723

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