Continued tobacco use among tobacco-related head and neck cancer patients seeking care in a tertiary care facility, South India

Bharathnag Nagappa; Yamini Marimuthu; Gomathi Ramaswamy; Sivaraman Ganesan; Jagadesan Pandjatcharam; Mahalakshmy Thulasingam; Sitanshu Sekhar Kar

doi:10.1016/j.canep.2023.102434

Continued tobacco use among tobacco-related head and neck cancer patients seeking care in a tertiary care facility, South India

Cancer Epidemiol. 2023 Oct:86:102434. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2023.102434. Epub 2023 Aug 21.

Authors

Bharathnag Nagappa¹, Yamini Marimuthu², Gomathi Ramaswamy³, Sivaraman Ganesan⁴, Jagadesan Pandjatcharam⁵, Mahalakshmy Thulasingam⁶, Sitanshu Sekhar Kar⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Medicine, Sri Siddhartha Medical College and Hospital, Tumakuru, Karnataka 572107, India.
² Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalagiri, Guntur 522503, India.
³ Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibinagar, Telangana 508126, India.
⁴ Department of ENT, JIPMER, Puducherry 605006, India.
⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, JIPMER, Puducherry 605006, India.
⁶ Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, JIPMER, Puducherry 605006, India. Electronic address: mahalakshmi.dr@gmail.com.
⁷ Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, JIPMER, Puducherry 605006, India.

PMID: 37611484
DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2023.102434

Abstract

Introduction: Continued tobacco use in cancer patients leads to decreased treatment efficacy and safety, decreased survival, decreased quality of life, and an increased risk of cancer recurrence and primary tumours at other sites.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of continued tobacco usage during the first 6 months of diagnosis among tobacco-related head and neck cancer patients seeking care from a tertiary care centre and the factors associated with it.

Methods: A facility-based cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care centre in Puducherry, India. Newly diagnosed head and neck cancer patients aged > 18 years with a history of tobacco use were interviewed to gather information on their socio-demographic, clinical characteristics, and tobacco usage. All participants were interviewed again at the 3rd month and at the 6th month during their follow-up visit. The data were entered in EpiData v3.1 and analysed using STATA v14. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was done with continued tobacco use as the dependent variable and variables that were found significantly associated with continued tobacco use in univariate analysis.

Results: Out of 220 study participants at baseline, 157(71 %; 95 % CI: 65.1-77.1) were using tobacco at the time of diagnosis. Out of these 157 participants, 80(50.9 %; 95 % CI; 43.1-58.7) continued to use tobacco at the 3rd month, 63(40.1 %: 95 % CI: 32.6-47.9) continued to use tobacco at the 6th month. The characteristics significantly associated with continued tobacco use are age (less than 39 years and more than 70 years), primary school education, nuclear family, and living alone, smoking tobacco, and increased duration of tobacco use.

Conclusion: Two-fifths of head and neck cancer patients with a history of tobacco use continued to use tobacco at the 6th month after diagnosis of cancer. Awareness of effects of tobacco use and the benefits of tobacco cessation needs to be created among cancer patients.

Keywords: Cohort study; Continued tobacco use; Head and neck neoplasms; Risk factors; Tobacco use.