It may sound like a good thing to quit smoking with minimal effort, but it isn’t always the case. A new study shows that quitting smoking with ease could be a sign of a more serious problem – lung cancer. According to a report presented at the World Conference on Lung Cancer recently, people who quit smoking easily after many years of smoking may have a higher risk of an undiagnosed lung tumor. Although this observation was only made on a small number of smokers, the results are compelling.

What Does the Study Show?

This study looked at 115 smokers and previous smokers who had been given a diagnosis of lung cancer and compared them to 101 smokers and former smokers who were diagnosed with prostate cancer or a heart attack. They found that those who were diagnosed with lung cancer had quit smoking more recently than those diagnosed with the other conditions. What was striking was the fact that the group who had the lung cancer diagnosis were more likely to have quit smoking with little effort within a few years of their diagnosis. In contrast, the former smokers with either prostate cancer or heart disease had quit many years before and had experienced the expected degree of difficulty doing it. In some cases, despite being long term smokers, the lung cancer patients were able to kick the habit in only a few days.

It May Be a Bad Sign

What would allow these smokers, later diagnosed with lung cancer, to be able to quit smoking with so little effort? Researchers are speculating that cancerous lung tumors may secrete a component that interferes with the desire for nicotine, making it easier for a smoker to quit. You could also surmise that these smokers could have quit smoking with little effort because they already had early symptoms of lung cancer, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Most of them reported no suspicious symptoms of lung cancer at the time they quit.

The Bottom Line?

How might this information be useful? The researchers hope further research can help to identify smoking cessation patterns that suggest the presence of an early lung cancer. If a long-term smoker suddenly quits smoking with minimal effort, it might raise a red flag that further studies are needed to look for an undiagnosed lung tumor. It might also be a sign that families could look for among their smoking family members that would suggest the need for further evaluation.

Filed under: Fitness

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!