Many diagnosed with cancer keep smoking

BOSTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Quitting smoking is always a good idea, and those diagnosed with colorectal cancer have more reason to quit -- but many keep smoking, U.S. researchers found.

Lead researcher Dr. Elyse R. Park of the Harvard Medical School -- who is also director of behavioral sciences for the Massachusetts General Hospital Tobacco Research and Treatment Center -- and colleagues analyzed data from 1,400 smokers newly diagnosed with lung or colorectal cancer.

The study, published online in the journal Cancer found five months after learning they had cancer, just over one-third of those with lung cancer and two-thirds of those with colorectal cancer were still smoking.

The quit rates in the study are much higher than seen in most studies of quitters -- on average, only about 6 percent of people who stop smoking are still off cigarettes six months later.

"Our results underscore just how difficult it can be to quit smoking," Park told the publication Harvard Health. "A diagnosis of cancer can certainly be a powerful motivator, but it isn't always enough -- people need help to quit."

Those with cancer who continue to smoke might lessen the effectiveness of cancer treatment and slow recovery, the researchers said.