Cancer Patients Who Quit Smoking Far More Likely to Survive

Five-year survival rates roughly doubled among patients diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer who quit smoking, HealthDay News reported Jan. 21.

British researchers who examined 10 previously published studies found that survival rates among early-stage lung-cancer patients who stopped smoking ranged from 63 to 70 percent, while only 29 to 33 percent of those who kept smoking were still alive after five years.

“The results are quite dramatic. I don’t think anybody would have expected such a dramatic difference. It’s incredible,” said Norman Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association.

The research was published online in the British Medical Journal.