Tobacco smoking in adolescents with cancer

Abstract

Background: The purpose of the study is to compare smoking tobacco frequency and features in adolescents with and without cancer from a single medical institution in Mexico City. Procedure: This is a comparative, transversal study. The analysis defined as an adolescent (12-18 years old) with a histopathology diagnosis of cancer in the treatment and/or follow-up who answered a questionnaire. A control group was defined as a healthy adolescent with no cancer diagnosis and that answered the questionnaire. Results: A total of 385 adolescents were included, 276 belonged to the control group and 109 were cases. From the total population, 57 admitted to being regular smokers: 38 in the control group and 19 in the patient group. The subjects were stratified as those between 12-15 years old (n = 247) and 16-18 years (n = 138). Acute lympho-blastic leukemia was the single most common entity, presenting 6/27 patients with smoking habits.Adolescents under 15 years old smoked significantly less (n = 17) than those over 15 (n = 39) (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: The proportion of smokers was similar between groups. 70% of patients with cancer who smoked began before the disease; however, only 31.6% continued to do so during treatment. The medical community should work harder with adolescents about the health hazards and addiction to tobacco. Conclusione: La proporcion de fumadores fue similar entre los grupos. 70% de los pacientes con cancer comenzaron a fumar antes de su enfermedad; sin embargo solo el 31.7% continuo haciendolo durante su tratamiento. La comunidad medica deberia trabajar arduamente con los adolescentes acerca de los problemas de salud que conlleva la adiccion al tabaco.