[Consequences of tobacco smoking on lung cancer treatments]

[Smoking among hospital staff and the impact of the November, No Smoking Month campaign on this population]

INTRODUCTION

Smoking cessation is a public health priority. Several prevention campaigns exist, including this one of the "month without tobacco", made in November in France. Healthcare workers have an important role to play in stopping smoking, while many of the healthcare workers are themselves smokers. The purpose of this article is to study the prevalence of tobacco consumption among hospital staff and to evaluate its effects.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

It is a transversal study, carried out among the 734 agents of a French hospital, between December 2016 and January 2017, by anonymous self-questionnaires. The study included all hospital employees, whether they were caregivers or not.

RESULTS

The participation rate was 35%, of whom 193 (75.7%) were health care workers, 46 (17.6%) were administrative and 17 (6.7%) were working in technical services. There were 31% smokers and 26% forming smokers. There were no significant differences in smoking by age, or socio-occupational category. During this campaign, 66.7% of smokers had plans to quit, and 29% tried to quit.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of smoking in this hospital was comparable to that of the general population, and among the highest in hospital in the literature. The campaign of the month without tobacco has influenced the consumption of smokers. Other studies need to analyze how to handle this population.

[Helping smoking cessation in COPD, asthma, lung cancer, operated smokers]

Smoking is the cause of addictive behavior. Tobacco addiction is a chronic disease that makes difficult to stop smoking and leads to further use. Smoking is a risk factor for COPD, asthma and lung cancer; it may be the cause of severe perioperative complications. This finding justifies that smokers benefit from advice of stopping smoking and smoking cessation assistance. Helping patients to stop smoking increases the chances of quitting, improves the prognosis of tobacco-related diseases, the effectiveness of their treatments and the quality of life of the patients. This article updates the modalities of smoking cessation assistance in smokers with COPD, asthma and lung cancer in operated patients. The goal of the management must be the complete cessation of tobacco smoke intoxication, which alone reduces tobacco mortality.

[Systematizing support in cessation smoking to improve care for cancer patients]

Approximately 20% of cancer patients smoke at diagnosis (all localizations included), and over two thirds continue despite the therapeutic management of their cancer, especially when cancer is not associated with tobacco. The impact of smoking on quality of care for patients is actually not enough considered. A literature review conducted by the French National Cancer Institute emphasizes the importance of tobacco cessation to improve the prognosis (decreased mortality from all causes and specific); to reduce the risk of second primary cancers; to reduce per- and post-surgical risks as long as some toxicities related to treatments and to improve the quality of physical and mental life of patients. It is important that a communication with the patient takes place at the beginning of the treatment to impact the smoking behavior. All oncology health professionals should deliver a clearly and personalized cessation advice in the light of scientific data and ensure that smoking cessation help will be offered to the patient.