Smoking and Its Impact on Early-Stage Melanoma Survival: A Closer Look
Source: OncLive, February 2024
A recent study published in JAMA Network Open has unveiled a critical connection between smoking and the mortality rates associated with early-stage melanoma. The research was conducted by a team at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute and involved an extensive examination of data from over 6,000 patients diagnosed with clinical stage I and II primary cutaneous melanoma. The results of this comprehensive study showed that current smokers faced a significantly higher risk of dying from melanoma, particularly those with sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB)-negative melanoma.
Heavy Smoking and Increased Melanoma Mortality
The study further revealed that the risk of melanoma-related death doubled for patients with SLNB-negative disease who smoked at least 20 cigarettes daily. These findings suggest that the management of patients who smoke may need to be intensified due to the potential threat of disease progression. It should be noted that several authors of the study disclosed affiliations with the pharmaceutical industry.
Smoking as a Risk Factor for Disease Progression
According to additional content from the same study, current smoking is not only associated with reduced melanoma-specific survival rates compared to those who have never smoked, but the risk of death is also twice as high in patients with pathologic node-negative melanoma who smoke heavily. Factors such as male sex, younger age, the location of the tumor, tumor thickness, tumor ulceration, and SLNB positivity were all found to be associated with current smoking. Therefore, the authors suggest that smoking status should be evaluated at the time of melanoma diagnosis and considered a risk factor for disease progression.