Cancer in childhood is not necessarily a deterrent to smoking…

[3 December 2008 - 08h24]
[mis à jour le 3 December 2008 à 11h24]

In Great Britain, one adult in five who has survived some form of childhood cancer is a smoker. A new study highlights this fact, which is all the more worrying as patients who suffered from cancer in their youth are at particular risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham approached 10,000 former patients whose records were stored in the British National Registry of Childhood Tumours. All responded to a question about their status as smokers.

Twenty per cent answered in the affirmative while 30% explained that at one time they had been regular smokers. Another interesting finding is that the type of cancer from which patients suffer as children appears to influence their future choice when it comes to smoking. Those who had survived cancer of the central nervous system or retinoblastoma were less inclined to smoke. However, the reverse was true of patients who had suffered from leukaemia or Wilms’ tumour – a form of childhood kidney cancer – or from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The good news is that among those who survived childhood cancer, the percentage of smokers is still significantly lower than among the rest of the population.

Source : Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2008 ; 100 :1068-1081

>> Cet article est aussi disponible en français

© 1996-2012 Destination Santé SAS - All Rights Reserved. No information contained on this server can be reproduced or retransmitted without prior written consent of Destination Santé. Offenders will be prosecuted in consideration of articles L 122-4 and L 335-3 of the Code of Intellectual Property, allowing up to two years' imprisonment and a 150,000 euros fine.