Smoking Link to Head and Neck Cancers Reveals
Greater Risk in Women
< Aug.
29, 2007 > -- Smoking significantly increases
the risk for head and neck cancers for both men
and women, regardless of the anatomic site.
According to the American
Lung Association (ALA), cigarettes cause
87 percent of all lung cancer cases. In addition,
smokers are six times more likely than nonsmokers
to develop cancer in the oral cavity (mouth).
In spite of these statistics,
not everyone is aware that smoking plays such a strong
role in this link, in addition to oral tobacco products,
such as chewing tobacco or spit tobacco.
According to this study, published
in the medical journal Cancer,
a large prospective study withover 400,000 participants
confirmed strong associations between current and
past cigarette smoking and cancers of the head and
neck in both genders.
A prospective study is one in
which people are followed forward in time to look
at the relationship between variables. This helps
researchers identify risk factors for diseases that
develop at a later point in life.
Dr. Neal Freedman from the National
Cancer Institute (N CI) and
co-investigators analyzed data from 476,211 men
and women followed from 1995 to 2000 to determine
gender differences in risk for cancer in specific
head and neck sites.
Analysis shows that the risk of
smoking leading to any type of head and neck cancer
is significantly greater in women than in men. While
45 percent of these cancers could be attributed to
smoking in men, 75 percent could be attributed to
smoking in women.
While tobacco use has long been
identified as an important risk factor for head and
neck cancers, this is a new finding that smoking
plays a greater role in the development of head and
neck cancer in women than men.
Cancers of the larynx, nasal passages/nose,
oral cavity, and pharynx (back of the throat) make
up head and neck cancers. More than 500,000 people
are diagnosed with these cancers every year worldwide.
According to the NCI,
men are over three times more likely than women to
be diagnosed with head and neck cancer and almost
as likely to die from their disease.
Around 90 percent of people with
oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer use tobacco,
and the risk of developing these cancers increases
with the amount smoked or chewed and the length of
time these habits are continued.
Smokers are 6 times more at risk
than nonsmokers to develop these cancers. According
to the American Cancer Society
(ACS), about 37 percent of patients who continue
to smoke after apparent cure of their cancer will
develop second cancers of the oral cavity, oropharynx,
or larynx, compared with only 6 percent of those
who stop smoking.
Tobacco smoke from cigarettes,
cigars, or pipes can cause cancers anywhere in the
oral cavity or oropharynx, as well as causing cancers
of the larynx, lungs, esophagus, kidneys, bladder,
and several other organs.
"Incidence rates were higher in
men than in women in all categories examined,” conclude
the authors, “but smoking was associated with
a larger relative increase in head and neck cancer
risk in women than in men.” To reduce the burden
of head and neck cancer, public health goals should
continue to promote eliminating smoking in both women
and men.
Always consult your physician
for more information.
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Find
a Physician at
St. John's Mercy
or call our Physician Referral Service at 314-FOR-DOCS
Quitting smoking is both a mental and a
physical undertaking. Mentally, you should be ready and relatively
stress-free. Physically, you need to commit to exercising daily
and getting plenty of sleep.
A person trying to quit must overcome two
obstacles: a physical addition to nicotine and a habit.
The American Academy
of Otolaryngology (AAO) and the American
Lung Association (ALA) offer
the following tips to help users quit using tobacco products:
- Think about why you want
to quit.
- Pick a stress-free time to
quit.
- Ask for support and encouragement
from family, friends, and colleagues.
- Begin a daily exercise or
activity to relieve stress
and improve your health.
- Join a smoking
cessation program,
or other support group.
In some cases, smokers benefit from nicotine
replacement products to help break their smoking habit. Nicotine
replacement products continue to give the smoker nicotine,
although in smaller quantities than a cigarette, to meet their
nicotine craving.
However, the benefit of nicotine replacement
products is the elimination of tars and poisonous gases that
cigarettes emit.
Pregnant or nursing women, and people with
other medical conditions, should consult with their physician
before using any nicotine replacement products. Some examples
of nicotine replacement products include:
- nicotine
chewing gum - an
over-the-counter chewing
gum that releases small amounts
of nicotine to help reduce
nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
- nicotine
patch - an
over-the-counter patch applied
to the upper body once a
day that releases a steady
dosage of nicotine to help
reduce the urge to smoke.
- nicotine
inhaler or nasal spray - a
prescription nicotine replacement
product that releases nicotine
to help reduce withdrawal
symptoms (requires a physician's
approval before use).
Zyban®,
a non-nicotine alternative to help people stop smoking, was
approved in
1996 by the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Offered to smokers
who want to quit, Zyban (Bupropion HCI), in pill form, has
been shown to alter mood transmitters in the brain that are
linked to addiction. Zyban must be prescribed by a physician
and may not be appropriate for everyone. Consult your physician
for more information.
There is another smoking
cessation medication approved by the FDA called
Chantix® (varenicline) that has been available in the
US as of 2006. This medication
works differently than any
of the other nicotine replacement products or Zyban. Chantix
affects the nicotine receptors
in the brain, decreasing nicotine
cravings and withdrawal
symptoms, and making smoking
less pleasurable. It is available
only by prescription. In early
studies, Chantix appears to be even more effective than Zyban
in helping people stay smoke-free.
Always consult your physician for more information.
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