Jaytee Matias, 21, blows an O while 'vaping' or exhaling from a Manhattan mod,
Jaytee Matias, 21, blows an O while 'vaping' or exhaling from a Manhattan mod, or portable vaporizer, during a vapor cloud competition at the The Henley Vaporium in Lower Manhattan, New York July 26, 2014. The electronic cigarette, touted as a way to cut smoking, is facing a serious contender that even smokers find sexy. Vapor tanks are typically hunkier and allow smokers and would-be quitters to customize nicotine levels, as well as to puff thousands of blissful flavors. A cult following is likely to grow as "vaping" becomes more fashionable and more stores, such as Walmart, carry the battery-powered metal tubes in a wide range of colors. Picture taken July 26, 2014. Reuters/Elizabeth Shafiroff (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY HEALTH) Reuters

According to a new research, cancer patients continue to smoke even after cancer treatment. They found that this sort of post-treatment indulgence was more common among those who went through treatments for lung cancer and bladder cancer.

The study published in the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), revealed that 9.3 per cent of U.S. cancer survivors continued to smoke, nine years after their cancer diagnosis. It also stated that 83 per cent of them were daily smokers who smoked an average of 14.7 cigarettes per day.

These figures are extremely concerning as the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body. Lee Westmaas, PhD, director of tobacco research at the American Cancer Society (ACS) and lead author of the study, said, "We need to follow up with cancer survivors long after their diagnoses to see whether they are still smoking and offer appropriate counselling, interventions, and possible medications to help them quit."

Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, chief of medical oncology at Yale University, said that the findings provided an understanding into the depth of the problem. Herbst is also the chair of the AACR Tobacco and Cancer Subcommittee. He stated that the habit could lead to secondary and additional primary cancers among the survivors. "It can also affect physical function and interfere with the efficacy of therapies." He suggested that to take note of this and target this population for intervention.

For the study, 2,938 patients were tracked nine years after their diagnoses. The researchers found the percentages of cancer patients who continued smoking post diagnosis were 17.2 per cent of bladder cancer survivors, 14.9 per cent of lung cancer survivors, 11.6 per cent of ovarian cancer survivors, 7.6 per cent of melanoma cancer survivors, 7.3 per cent kidney cancer survivors and 6.8 per cent of colorectal cancer survivors.

They found that younger survivors showed a greater probability of indulging in cigarettes, those with less education and income and alcoholics also showed an inclination towards smoking.

Westmaas said, "Smoking is addictive and having cancer does not guarantee that you will stop, even if that cancer was directly tied to your smoking. We need to do more to intervene with these patients."