Smoking Leads to Worse Outcomes for Prostate Cancer Patients

An analysis from researchers in Austria and elsewhere found that men who smoked at the time they were treated for prostate cancer were significantly more likely to have biochemical recurrence and metastatic prostate cancer—and they were more likely to die from cancer.

The authors looked at data from 22,549 men included in 11 previous studies. Nearly 20% of the men were smokers when they underwent either radical prostatectomy or radiation treatment for localized prostate cancer. These men had significantly worse outcomes when compared to nonsmokers: a 40% higher risk of biochemical recurrence, a 251% higher risk of metastasis, and 89% higher risk of dying from cancer. Men who smoked in the past had a 19% higher risk of biochemical recurrence, but there wasn’t an association between former smokers and metastatic cancer or cancer death.

The negative effects of smoking on a person’s health are well known, but this data emphasizes the importance of men diagnosed with prostate cancer to quit smoking.

The authors suggested that the link between smoking and worse prostate cancer outcomes could be related to inflammation caused by smoking, which could then stimulate cancer cell growth, or from the effect of nicotine.

JAMA Oncol. 2018 Jul 1;4(7):953-961. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.1071.