Objectives: In this paper we thus aimed to determine whether smoking during chemotherapy affects the outcome of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment and increases hematological side effects. Method: We have reviewed 70 stage-IV NCSLC patients, who had received chemotherapy as the firstline therapy. Smoking status before and during the administration of the firstline therapy, therapeutic regimens, clinical outcomes, hematological adverse events, and infections that develop during the chemotherapy were investigated. Results: 26 (37.1%) of the patients were former smokers, 44 (62.9%) of the patients were current smokers. 13 (18.6%) patients quit smoking <1 year before, 11 (15.7%) of them stopped smoking <2 weeks before the treatment. 20 (28.6%) of the patients continued to smoke actively during the therapy. No significant differences were found between the smoking groups in terms of neutropenia, anemia, infections that develop during the chemotherapy (p=0.259, p=0.158, p=0.342, respectively). Significant differences were found between the smoking groups in terms of thrombocytopenia and smoking pack-years (p=0.007, p=0.008, respectively). Conclusion: This is the first study evaluating smoking status on hematological toxicities in NSCLC. It should be emphasized however that this study was limited mainly to the patients with stage-IV NSCLC patients, who received palliative treatment. Key Words: Smoking status, hematological toxicities, lung cancer
Corresponding Author: Nilay Sengul Samanci