Smoking Cessation After Lung Cancer Diagnosis and the Risk of Second Primary Lung Cancer: The Multiethnic Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Smoking cessation reduces lung cancer mortality. However, little is known about whether diagnosis of lung cancer impacts changes in smoking behaviors. Furthermore, the effects of smoking cessation on the risk of second primary lung cancer (SPLC) have not been established yet. This study aims to examine smoking behavior changes after initial primary lung cancer (IPLC) diagnosis and estimate the effect of smoking cessation on SPLC risk following IPLC diagnosis. METHODS: The study cohort consisted of 986 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study who were free of lung cancer and active smokers at baseline (1993-1996), provided 10-year follow-up smoking data (2003-2008), and were diagnosed with IPLC in 1993-2017. The primary outcome was a change in smoking status from “current” at baseline to “former” at 10-year follow-up (ie, smoking cessation), analyzed using logistic regression. The second outcome was SPLC incidence after smoking cessation, estimated using cause-specific Cox regression. All statistical tests were 2-sided. RESULTS: Among 986 current smokers at baseline, 51.1% reported smoking cessation at 10-year follow-up. The smoking cessation rate was statistically significantly higher (80.6%) for those diagnosed with IPLC between baseline and 10-year follow-up vs those without IPLC diagnosis (45.4%) during the 10-year period (adjusted odds ratio = 5.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.38 to 7.98; P < .001). Incidence of SPLC was statistically significantly lower among the 504 participants who reported smoking cessation at follow-up compared with those without smoking cessation (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.14 to 0.67; P = .003). CONCLUSION: Lung cancer diagnosis has a statistically significant impact on smoking cessation. Quitting smoking after IPLC diagnosis may reduce the risk of developing a subsequent malignancy in the lungs.