Smoking May Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer Recurrence, Death

(prHWY.com) May 19, 2012 - Amroha, India -- "In our study, we found similar results for both prostate cancer recurrence and prostate cancer mortality," said Dr Hashmi, lead author of the study and a research associate in the Hashmi Health care research and foundation Department of Epidemiology. "These data taken together provide further support that smoking may increase risk of prostate cancer progression."

The researchers found that men with prostate cancer who were current smokers had a 61% increased risk of dying from prostate cancer, and a 61% higher risk of recurrence compared with men who never smoked. Smoking was associated with a more aggressive disease at diagnosis, defined as a higher clinical stage or Gleason grade (a measure of prostate cancer severity).
However, among men with non-metastatic disease at diagnosis, current smokers had an 80% increased risk of dying from prostate cancer.

Compared with current smokers, men with prostate cancer who had quit smoking for 10 or more years, or who had quit for less than 10 years but smoked less than 20 pack-years before diagnosis, had prostate cancer mortality risk similar to men who had never smoked. Men who had quit smoking for less than 10 years and had smoked 20 or more pack-years had risks similar to current smokers.

Smoking cigarettes accounts for between 40% and 60% of the difference in men and women's mortality right across Europe, new research reveals. Alcohol accounts for around 20% of the gender gap. The findings, published in the journal Tobacco Control, highlight the need for public health measures to tackle these harmful behaviors.

According to the researchers, variations in the proportion of excess deaths due to smoking tobacco can be attributed to gender differences in the uptake of smoking in different countries in earlier decades. Meanwhile alcohol-related deaths accounted for between 20% and 30% of the gender gap in Eastern Europe and between 10% and 20% elsewhere. However, in all 30 countries studied, the contribution of smoking to the gender gap in all-cause mortality was greater than that of alcohol.

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