Association between cigarette smoking and prognosis in locally advanced cervical carcinoma treated with chemoradiation: a Gynecologic Oncology Group study.

Objective: To determine if smoking, a known risk factor for a number of cancers including cervical cancer, is associated with poor prognosis in patients with locally advanced cervical carcinoma treated with chemoradiation.
Methods: Patients with primary, previously untreated, histologically confirmed stage II-B, III-B or IV-A cervical carcinoma participated in a Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) phase III study (GOG 165) and were randomly allocated to receive radiation plus either cisplatin or 5-fluorouracil. Smoking behavior was ascertained using an administered questionnaire and by quantifying urine cotinine concentration. Disease progression was defined as a >or=50% increase in the cross product of the existing tumor compared with previous assessments. Patients were followed until death.
Results: Of 328 enrolled patients, 12 were ineligible, one was inevaluable for reported smoking status and 40 others were inevaluable for cotinine-derived smoking status. Among evaluable patients, 133 (42%) were reported smokers and 111 (40%) were cotinine-derived smokers. The kappa for agreement between the groups was 0.872 (P<0.01). Compared with non-smokers, median survival was 15 months shorter for reported smokers and 20 months shorter for cotinine-derived smokers (P<0.01). After adjusting for covariates, a significant increase in the risk of death (but not disease progression) was observed for reported smokers (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.51; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-2.27; P=0.04) and cotinine-derived smokers (HR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.03-2.38; P=0.04).
Conclusions: Smoking predicts worse overall survival in women with locally advanced cervical carcinoma treated with chemoradiation.