Studies have demonstrated that cancer patients who smoke cigarettes at the time of diagnosis are at a disadvantage compared with people who previously or never smoked. They face increased difficulty with surgical wound healing; more treatment morbidity; reduced radiation and chemotherapy efficacy; reduced time to recurrence, progression, and second primary cancers; and increased mortality. There are still many unaddressed questions related to tobacco use by cancer patients, but research in that area was historically impeded by inadequate assessment of tobacco use after cancer diagnosis and a lack of valid, harmonized measures that are tailored to the trajectory of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.
To facilitate that research, NCI partnered with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) to form the NCI-AACR Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Assessment Task Force (PDF), which in turn developed the Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Questionnaire (C-TUQ). The measures have undergone clinical testing and are now available for use in all cancer research.
- Download the Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Questionnaire (C-TUQ)
- Helps yield important research variables and allows harmonization across studies
- Includes short form and extension pool of items
- Available in English and Spanish
- Learn more with the Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Questionnaire (C-TUQ) Fact Sheet (PDF)
Reports from the NCI-AACR Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Assessment Task Force
- Land SR, Toll BA, Moinpour CM, Mitchell SA, Ostroff JS, Hatsukami DK, Duffy SA, Gritz ER, Rigotti NA, Brandon TH, Prindiville SA, Sarna LP, Schnoll RA, Herbst RS, Cinciripini PM, Leischow SJ, Dresler CM, Fiore MC, Warren GW. Research priorities, measures, and recommendations for assessment of tobacco use in clinical cancer research. Clinical Cancer Research. 2016; 22(8): 1907-13. (Includes the recommended measures, protocol for measurement, and priority research areas.)
- Land SR, Warren GW, Crafts JL, et al. Cognitive testing of tobacco use items for administration to cancer patients and survivors in clinical research. Cancer. 2016; 122(11):1728-34.
Funding Opportunities
View all Tobacco Control Funding Opportunities.
Resources
- Chapter 6, Cancer, The Health Consequences of Smoking – 50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. (January 2014)
- Smokefree.gov
- Harms of Smoking and Benefits of Smoking Cessation
- Where To Get Help When You Decide To Quit Smoking
- NCI Tobacco Control Monograph 23: Treating Smoking in Cancer Patients: An Essential Component of Cancer Care
Archive
- The NCI Cancer Center Cessation Initiative
- Tobacco Use by Cancer Patients in Clinical Trials, Presentation to the NCI Division of Extramural Affairs Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee (CTAC) (beginning at 2:42)
- Reducing Tobacco-Related Cancer Incidence and Mortality: Summary of an Institute of Medicine Workshop (2012) and full report
- National Cancer Institute Conference on Treating Tobacco Dependence at Cancer Centers
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