Smoking history not assessed in cancer trials, study finds

Cancer trials typically do not assess smoking history of participants even though studies have shown tobacco use has adverse effects on cancer treatments, researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Yale Cancer Center report in a study published in the Journal of Cancer Oncology.

The study — led by Dr. Graham Warren at Roswell Park and conducted by Yale psychiatry postdoctoral researcher Erica N. Peters — looked at 155 National Cancer Institute-sponsored trials, and showed that only 29% assessed tobacco use.

“It is shocking that most of these trials don’t assess tobacco use,” said Dr. Benjamin Toll, Peters’ mentor in psychiatry.