Cognitive Testing of Tobacco Use Measurement Items for Administration With Cancer Patients and Survivors

Background:

Studies comparing cancer patients who smoke cigarettes at the time of diagnosis to former or never smokers have demonstrated increased difficulty with surgical wound healing and more treatment morbidity; reduced radiation and chemotherapy efficacy; reduced time to recurrence, progression, and second primary cancers; and increased mortality. Some studies have found that smoking interacts with cancer therapy efficacy.

Cigarette smoking is prevalent among patients with lung and head and neck cancers, with rates as high as 40% to 60% as of the time of diagnosis. The rate of smoking among cancer survivors has been estimated as 21% for lung cancer survivors and 39% for survivors of other cancers.(11)

Only 22% of NCI-funded phase III trials conducted by Cooperative Groups record patients cigarette smoking status among patients at the time of enrollment, and 4% record cigarette smoking status during follow-up.

We need to examine the impact of tobacco use on a wider range of therapeutic regimens and settings, with more detailed longitudinal tobacco use assessment. Research in this area is impeded by inadequate assessment of tobacco use after cancer diagnosis and a lack of valid, harmonized measures that are tailored to the trajectory of cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.(15) The NCI-AACR Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Assessment Task Force formed in 2013 to develop recommendations for assessing tobacco use by cancer patients. The long- range goal of the Task Force is to advance the state of knowledge about the effect of tobacco use after a cancer diagnosis, to inform cancer treatment decision-making and to guide patients and providers regarding the timing and clinical significance of tobacco cessation.