Head and neck cancer patients who continue to smoke are at increased risk for adverse outcomes and poor survival rates, according to research conducted at the Moffitt Cancer Center and presented this week at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco annual meeting in Houston, TX.
Little information is available regarding relapse in this population, and there are no interventions tailored to them, the researchers from Moffitt's Tobacco Research and Intervention Program said in a press release. This study examined a large number of variables, including smoking-related emotions, fears, perception of risk, pain and predictors of smoking relapse.
The study findings prompted the creation of a relapse intervention program for this population, according to the researchers.
