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Accuracy of self-reported tobacco use in newly diagnosed cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

Accurate identification of tobacco use is critical to implement evidence-based cessation treatments in cancer patients. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of self-reported tobacco use in newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Methods

Tobacco use questionnaires and blood samples were collected from 233 newly diagnosed cancer patients (77 lung, 77 breast, and 79 prostate cancer). Blood was analyzed for cotinine levels using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Patients with cotinine measurements exceeding 10 ng/mL were categorized as current smokers. Smoking status based upon cotinine levels was contrasted with self-report in current smokers, recent quitters (1 or less year since quit), non-recent quitters (>1 year since quit), and never smokers. Multivariate analyses were used to identify potential predictors of discordance between self-reported and biochemically confirmed smoking.

Results

Cotinine confirmed 100 % accuracy in self-reporting of current and never smokers. Discordance in cotinine and smoking status was observed in 26 patients (15.0 %) reporting former tobacco use. Discordance in self-reported smoking was 12 times higher in recent (35.4 %) as compared with non-recent quitters (2.8 %). Combining disease site, pack-year history, and employment status predicted misrepresentation of tobacco use in 82.4 % of recent quitters.

Conclusions

Self-reported tobacco use may not accurately assess smoking status in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Patients who claim to have recently stopped smoking within the year prior to a cancer diagnosis and lung cancer patients may have a higher propensity to misrepresent tobacco use and may benefit from biochemical confirmation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Cheryl Rivard and Jennifer Graf for their assistance with data analysis and comments on earlier drafts of this paper. This work was supported in part by Roswell Park Cancer Institute, National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant #P30 CA016056, an American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant (MRSG-11-031-01-CCE), and an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant.

Conflict of interest

Dr Cummings provides expert testimony against the tobacco industry.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Nelson A. Morales

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical University of South Carolina, 169 Ashley Ave. Rm 168, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Michelle A. Romano & Graham W. Warren

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    K. Michael Cummings

  4. Department of Cancer Prevention, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

    James R. Marshall

  5. Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Andrew J. Hyland

  6. Department of Biostatistics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Alan Hutson

  7. Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Graham W. Warren

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  1. Nelson A. Morales
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Correspondence to Graham W. Warren.

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Morales, N.A., Romano, M.A., Michael Cummings, K. et al. Accuracy of self-reported tobacco use in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Cancer Causes Control 24, 1223–1230 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-013-0202-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-013-0202-4

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