Smoking Linked to Breast Cancer Spread
S A C R A M E N T O, Calif., June 11 -- Breast cancer patients who smoke have a much higher risk of the diseasespreading to their lungs than do nonsmokers, according to a newstudy released today.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, Schoolof Medicine and Medical Center found that women whose breastcancer had spread to the lungs were twice as likely to besmokers than women whose breast cancer had not spread.
The study, conducted by Dr. Susan Murin, an associateprofessor of medicine at the university, and John Inciardi, astatistician at the university, monitored 87 patients withinvasive breast cancer that had spread to the lungs.
Researchers compared them with 174 women with breast cancerthat had not spread. Each was matched by year of diagnosis, ageat diagnosis, size of primary tumor and whether cancer wasfound in the lymph nodes.
Study Supports Earlier Studies
The findings, published in the June issue of the journalChest, support earlier studies linking smoking to a higher riskthat a breast cancer will spread to the lungs or that women whosmoke are more likely to die of breast cancer than nonsmokers.
"Women are in many ways more frightened of breast cancerthan lung cancer, because it's so much more common. Everyoneknows someone who has breast cancer," Murin said in astatement.
"But women are more likely to survive breast cancer if theydon't smoke. If we can let them know that, it might motivatesome women to quit."
Murin said other lifestyle factors, such as diet andexercise, may also play a role in the interplay betweensmoking, breast cancer and the spread of cancer to thelungs.
"Smokers generally have less healthy diets and tend toexercise less than their nonsmoking counterparts," Murin saidin the statement. "We need to further study thisrelationship."
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