Smoking Increases Prostate Cancer Death Risk

Men with prostate cancer who smoke are more likely than nonsmokers with prostate cancer to die from their disease, a new study finds. The longer men smoke, the greater their risk of dying from prostate cancer. However, men with prostate cancer who have quit for at least 10 years have the same risk of dying from prostate cancer as those who have never smoked, Reuters reports.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston studied 5,366 men with prostate cancer, and found that current smokers had a 61 percent increased risk of dying from prostate cancer compared with men who never smoked. They also found that smokers had a 61 percent increased risk of having their cancer return compared with nonsmokers, according to the article.

The results are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.