Smoking is said to significantly reduce the effectiveness of a very common treatment for breast cancer, aromatase inhibitors. Smokers have a 3 times higher risk of recurrence.
In addition to causing cancer, tobacco is also believed to interfere with anti-cancer treatments. According to a study from Lund University (Sweden), smoking significantly reduces the effectiveness of a very common treatment for breast cancer, aromatase inhibitors. Unpublished data published in the British Journal of Cancer (BJC).
Relayed by the site santelog, the study was conducted on 1,016 patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 2002 and 2012. All were questioned before their surgery on their history of smoking. Thus, about one in five patients declared to be a “regular smoker” or a “social smoker”. The scientists then compared the data on smoking with that of the treatments, and their effectiveness.
A 3 times higher risk of recurrence
And the results are final. They reveal that patients, aged over 50, treated with aromatase inhibitors, are strongly penalized when they smoke. “The treatment that slows down the regeneration of estrogen in adipose tissue and therefore reduces the risk of recurrence in women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, works much less well in patients who smoke,” explain the authors of the study. In figures, this gives a 3 times higher risk than non-smokers of cancer recurrence. But above all, an increased risk of dying for women addicted to tobacco, ”they add.
Conversely, studies show little or no difference between smokers and non-smokers treated with tamoxifen, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. “More studies are needed, but our results are very important because many breast cancer patients receive these treatments,” says Helena Jernström, lead author of the study.
Another downside, despite the recommendations, the researcher notes that few patients stop smoking during their treatment. Of the 206 smoking patients in the study, only 10% actually stopped smoking within a year of their surgery. As the number is low, the researchers were not able to study whether stopping smoking had a positive effect on the effectiveness of the treatments. “This was unexpected, because cancer or not, it is always beneficial to stop smoking. Our data warns that patients need more support from WHO and encouragement to help them quit smoking, ”Helena Jernström concludes.
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