Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Smoking and Complications After Cancer Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors' conclusion
In this systematic review and meta-analysis of smoking cessation and complications after cancer surgery, people with cancer who had stopped smoking for at least 4 weeks before surgery had fewer postoperative complications than those smoking closer to surgery.
Study context
- Population
- Patients undergoing cancer surgery; studies published January 1, 2000, to August 10, 2023
- Participants
- 39,499 patients · 24 studies
- Comparison
- Smoking within 4 weeks preoperatively vs cessation ≥4 weeks or never smoked
- Outcome
- OR of postoperative complications (any type), current vs past smoking (4-week preoperative cutoff) and current vs never smoked
Methodological detailsrandom-effects model, adjusted analysis, MOOSE reporting guidelines
- Random-effects model
- Adjusted analysis
- MOOSE reporting guidelines
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Postoperative complications
Odds ratio (95% CI)
Current smoking vs Past smokingn = 14 547 [17 studies]
1.31(1.10–1.55)
Current smoking vs Never smokedn = 9726 [14 studies]
2.83(2.06–3.88)
Further pooled results
| Outcome | OR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Postoperative complications, smoked within 2 weeks vs stopped between 2 weeks and 3 months preoperatively | 1.19 (0.89–1.59) | |
| Postoperative complications, smoked within 1 year vs quit ≥1 yearN = 31 238 [13 studies] | 1.13 (1.00–1.29) | |
| 0.512Odds ratio (log scale) |
- Postoperative complications, smoked within 2 weeks vs stopped between 2 weeks and 3 months preoperatively: n = 5341 [10 studies]; no statistically significant difference
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Smoking and Complications After Cancer Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Netw Open. Published 3 March 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →