Prognostic influence of smoking on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Smoking is well-known as a risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, little is known about the effect of this factor on survival.

Methods: Esophageal cancer patients who underwent esophagectomy without any preoperative therapy were retrospectively reviewed. Patients' postoperative overall and disease-free survivals were compared between 2 groups (non-heavy smokers and heavy smokers).

Results: A total of 109 cases were evaluated in this study. The 5-year OS rate of the non-heavy smokers was 53.2% and 32.3% for the heavy group. The 5-year DFS rate of the non-heavy smokers was 51.1% and 27.4% for the heavy group. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that heavy smokers had significantly poorer OS (P=0.018) and DFS (P=0.009) than non-heavy smokers. In multivariate analysis, smoking was found to be an independent prognostic factor for OS (P=0.003; HR: 2.186; 95% CI: 1.309-3.650) and DFS (P=0.001; HR: 2.471; 95% CI: 1.467-4.163).

Conclusions: Smoking was associated with survival among patients with ESCC, and it was recognized as an independent factor in both OS and DFS.