Kicking the butt doubles survival chances in lung cancer patients

Kicking the butt can double chances of survival in people with lung cancer, says a new study.

Published in the British Medical Journal online, the study is the first review of studies to measure the effects of continued smoking after diagnosis of lung cancer and suggests that it may be worthwhile to offer smoking cessation treatment to patients with early stage lung cancer.

Smoking increases the risk of developing a primary lung cancer; lifelong smokers have a 20-fold increased risk compared with non-smokers.

In the study, University of Birmingham researchers analysed results of 10 studies that measured the effect of quitting smoking after diagnosis of lung cancer on prognosis.

From analysis, boffins found that people who continued to smoke after a diagnosis of early stage lung cancer had a substantially higher risk of death and a greater risk of the tumour returning compared with those who stopped smoking at that time.