Tobacco Use and Cessation

Tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, continues to be the leading preventable cause of cancer. Moreover, smoking by cancer patients is detrimental to their treatment outcomes and prognosis. Therefore, tobacco control remains a key element of comprehensive cancer prevention and control. The tobacco landscape continues to evolve, with demographic shifts in tobacco use exacerbating existing health disparities, while the emergence of electronic cigarettes presents both opportunities and challenges. This chapter summarizes these ongoing changes and then provides an overview of both pharmacological and behavioral smoking cessation strategies. With respect to cancer patients, as the benefits of smoking cessation have been identified, there have been accumulating recommendations and guidelines for the systematic assessment and treatment of tobacco use.