Research done at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, US, has revealed that males with prostate cancer increase their risk of dying from the disease if they smoke. It further stated that similar results were found in cases of recurrence of the disease. The research also states that smoking may indeed increase the risk of progression of prostate cancer.
This research is the largest of its kind to have been done to date. More than 5,300 males who suffered with prostate cancer during 1986 and 2006 were included in the study. It is stated that disease sufferers who smoked had a 61% higher chance of dying if compared with non-smokers. The risk of the disease recurring among smokers was also potentially higher.
Research indicated that more aggressive incidences of the disease at diagnosis were associated with smokers. Among men who had been diagnosed with the disease that had not yet spread, those who were smokers had an increased risk of dying.
On a more positive note, the research revealed that males who had quit smoking for a period of 10 years or more, had the same mortality rate as that of non-smokers. Smokers who had been moderate smokers and quit for less than 10 years, also experienced the same mortality rate as non-smokers.
One of the researchers on the Harvard team found the data quite exciting as there are very few known ways that a male can reduce his risk of dying from this disease. This new research result could be good news for smokers – all they have to do is quit.
