from the Journal of Clinical Oncology
We’ve heard before that it is never too
late to quit smoking. But that
recommendation is reinforced by a large
study of breast cancer survivors.
Previous studies have speculated that
the risk of developing breast cancer in
smokers might depend on when smoking
started and for how long. This study
focused on risks of continuing to smoke
after being diagnosed. There are more
than three million breast cancer survivors
in this country. This study, in the
Journal of Clinical Oncology, involved
more than twenty thousand women. It
found about one in ten breast cancer
survivors continued to smoke after their
diagnosis. The women who quit smoking
after their diagnosis had one-third lower
risk of death from breast cancer than
those who continued to smoke.