In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 17, No. 8 ( 2022-8-9), p. e0272779-
Abstract:
Whether abstinence from smoking among cancer patients reduces cancer pain is still unclear. Opioids can act as a surrogate index for evaluating the incidence of severe cancer pain in countries where opioid abuse is infrequent. This study aimed to investigate whether changed smoking behavior after cancer diagnosis influences the incidence of severe cancer pain as determined by strong opioid use. Methods Using a large Japanese insurance claims database (n = 4,797,329), we selected 794,702 insured employees whose annual health checkup data could be confirmed ≥6 times between January 2009 and December 2018. We selected 591 study subjects from 3,256 employees who were diagnosed with cancer pain and had health checkup data at the year of cancer pain diagnosis. Results A significantly greater proportion of patients who continued smoking after cancer diagnosis (“current smoker”, n = 133) received strong opioids (36.8%) compared with patients who had never smoked or had stopped before cancer diagnosis (“non-smoker”, n = 383, 20.6%; p 〈 0.05) but also compared with patients who had quit smoking after cancer diagnosis (“abstainer:”, n = 75, 24.0%; p 〈 0.05). In multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, abstainers had a significantly lower risk of receiving strong opioids than current smokers (hazard ratio: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.328 to 0.997). These findings were consistent across multiple sensitivity analyses. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that patients who quit smoking after cancer diagnosis have a lower risk of severe cancer pain. This information adds clinical incentives for improving quality of life among those who smoked at the time of cancer diagnosis.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.t002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.t003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.t004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0272779.s003
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2267670-3
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