We examined whether smoking prior to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) diagnosis was associated with overall survival (OS) and conducted a meta-analysis to assess the evidence relating pre-diagnosis cigarette smoking with OS. Among 523 NHL patients, worse OS was suggested for greater pre-diagnostic smoking habits when compared to never smokers. In the meta-analysis (n = 5 patient populations), inferior OS was observed for greater number of cigarettes smoked per day, years of cigarette smoking, and pack-years of cigarette smoking. The inferior survival was more pronounced for follicular than for diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Pre-diagnosis cigarette smoking may adversely impact the survival of NHL patients.
Keywords: cigarettes; meta-analysis; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; pooled analysis; smoking.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.