Cancer time of the first cigarette is crucial

Cancer: The timing of the morning cigarette is crucial

08/08/2011

Smokers who light their first cigarette in the morning as soon as they get up are at much greater risk for cancer than those who give up their addiction only hours later. Detached from the number of cigarettes consumed daily and the current duration of tobacco addiction, the period of morning abstinence has a significant impact on cancer risk, according to Joshua Muscat of the Penn State College of Medicine at Hershey and colleagues in the journal „Cancer“.

Tobacco users who catch their first cigarette immediately after waking up are at significantly higher risk of lung and neck cancer and brain tumors than smokers who get by without nicotine replenishment in the first hour after getting up, report Joshua Muscat and Colleagues from their study „Nicotine dependence phenotype and lung cancer risk“. The relationship was also confirmed when taking into account the amount and duration of the previous cigarette consumption, so the presentation of the scientists. According to Joshua Muscat, this may also be one of the reasons why some smokers get cancer and others are spared their lives.

Lung cancer risk increased by up to 79 percent
In the context of their now published study, Joshua Muscat and colleagues investigated why the cancer risk among smokers - despite similar consumer behavior - sometimes shows considerable differences. Researchers found a significant statistical relationship between the time it takes to get up to the first cigarette in the morning and the risk of cancer. The shorter this precipitates, the higher the risk of cancer, so the simplified summary of the current results. For the study „Nicotine dependence phenotype and lung cancer risk“ The researchers evaluated the data from 4,775 cancer patients and 2,835 healthy matched patients, all of whom were regular smokers. With regard to the time of the first morning cigarette, the researchers found that those who took the first cigarette 31 to 60 minutes after waking were 31 percent more likely to be lung cancer than those who did not reach their first hour first cigarette infected. Among the smokers who satisfied their nicotine addiction in the first 30 minutes after waking up, the risk of lung cancer was even 79 percent higher, write Joshua Muscat and colleagues.

Brain tumors and neck cancer
Researchers also examined brain and neck cancer risk as a function of the time of the first morning cigarettes. In doing so, they compared the data of 1,055 brain tumor or neck cancer patients with those of a healthy control population of 795 people, whereby all study participants were also smokers. Subjects who lasted less than 30 minutes to get their first cigarette after getting up were up to 50 percent more likely to have brain cancer or neck cancer than smokers who waited more than 60 minutes to get their first cigarette. With a period of 31 to 60 minutes to the first smoldering the risk was still increased by 42 percent, according to the scientists in the magazine „Cancer“. The shorter the period between getting up and the first cigarette, the higher the risk of lung cancer, cervical cancer and brain tumor, according to Joshua Muscat and colleagues.

Morning smoking indicator for cancer risk
According to the scientists, the period between getting up and the first cigarette can serve as an indicator of individual cancer risk. Smokers who have to satisfy their addiction immediately after waking up, „They have a higher nicotine level and possibly more other toxins in the body, and they may be more dependent than smokers who can sustain it without a cigarette for half an hour or more in the morning“, explained Joshua Muscat. However, the current studies do not provide a more detailed explanation of the possible relationship. „It could be a combination of genetic and personal factors that cause greater dependence on nicotine,“ so the assumption of Joshua Muscat. The effects of the first morning cigarette on the risk of other potentially smoking-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, vascular disease or smoker's cough, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, have not been included in the current research, so further studies in order to assess the impact of the temporal distribution of cigarette consumption on overall health. (Fp)

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