LAUSR

There is growing evidence that at the time of diagnosis of lung cancer (LC), never smokers have longer survival than ex- and particularly continued smokers. Those who quit smoking following a diagnosis of lung cancer have been shown to have improved outcomes including survival (Roberts & Lewis, 2015). Objective: To identify differences at baseline in patients who continue to smoke and who quit smoking within 1 month of a diagnosis of lung cancer Methods: As part of a UK multicentre trial (NCT01192256) we report on 547 people who were smoking at the time of LC diagnosis. We compared the baseline demographics in those who quit smoking (n=133) versus those who continued smoking (n=395). 19 patients died within 1 month of diagnosis and were not included. Results: Those who quit smoking were younger (t(526)=27.18, p=0.04) and a higher proportion had a ECOG performance status of 0-1 (X2(1) = 8.32, p =0.014) compared to those who continued to smoke after a diagnosis of lung cancer. There was no significant differences in the groups based on gender and stage of lung cancer. Conclusions: While biologically plausible that continuing to smoke may affect survival, those who quit smoking were younger and had a better performance status than those who continued to smoke at the time of diagnosis. Further work is ongoing but this may have implications for motivation to quit smoking in patients with lung cancer.