Smoking cessation counseling and provision of medication vs. shorter-term counseling and medication advice in patients recently diagnosed with cancer

Understanding that continued tobacco use undermines treatment in people newly diagnosed with cancer, researchers compared the efficacy of standard vs. intense counseling in this patient population. The research was carried out at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, among adult smokers recently given a diagnosis of breast, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecological, head and neck, lung, lymphoma, or melanoma cancer. One-half of the enrollees received standard treatment consisting of 4 weekly telephone counseling sessions plus medication advice. The others received standard treatment plus 4 biweekly and 3 monthly over-the-phone counseling sessions, plus their choice of FDA-approved cessation medication. A total of 221 participants completed the trial and were included in analysis of the primary endpoint: biochemically confirmed quit rate for each group. In the standard group, 21.5% of patients achieved smoking abstinence compared with 34.5% of patients in the intensive group—a statistically significant difference. Although greater success appears to be associated with sustained counseling coupled with free medication, study authors say the generalizability of their findings is uncertain and warrants further research.