Smoking Prevalence and Smoking Cessation Knowledge and Perceptions`Of Cancer Care Providers at Six Latin American Cancer Institutions

Background: Latin America’s Cancer Care Providers (CCPs) have not fully harnessed the benefits of providing smoking cessation to cancer patients who use tobacco. Understanding CCPs’ knowledge and perceptions towards tobacco use and smoking cessation can assist in design of interventions that can potentially improve quitting rates and prognosis of cancer patients. The aim of the study was to assess perceived barriers to providing smoking cessation brief interventions in six Latin American cancer institutions.  Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 996 CCPs in six cancer institutions located in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. An online survey consisting of 28 close-ended questions adapted from the 2012 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer survey and the Global Adult Tobacco Survey was administered.  Findings: Majority of CCPs, ranging from 86.1% in Mexico to 95.9% in Brazil, agreed or strongly agreed that smoking cessation should be integrated into cancer treatment. However, inadequate training on smoking cessation was reported by 66.9%, 69.4%, 70.4%, 72.9%, 85.8%, 86.4% in Mexico, Colombia (Floridablanca), Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Colombia (Medellin) respectively, and this difference was statistically significant ( p < 0.001). Moreover, current cigarette smoking prevalence among CCPs was 2.5% in Brazil, 4.6% in Peru, 6.3% in Colombia (Floridablanca), 10.4% in Colombia (Medellin), 11.5% in Mexico, and 15.1% in Argentina showing a statistically significant difference (p <0.001).  Interpretation: Efforts in Latin America should be geared towards assisting CCPs with their quitting efforts and training in smoking cessation practices aimed at achieving better prognosis and improving cancer patients’ quality of life. Funding: SWOG/The Hope Foundation Impact Award (Principal Investigator: Irene Tami-Maury, DMD, MSc, DrPH). Declaration of Interest: We declare no competing interests. Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the Ethics Boards of AUNA-COL (Protocol Number: 02-2015-I), Barretos-BRA (Protocol Number: 4.190.037); FOSCAL-COL (Protocol Number: Acta #045 on 12/01/2017), INC-ARG (Protocol Number: IF2019-20486HB), INCan-MEX (Protocol Number: 016/001/DII; CEI/994/16), INEN-PER (Protocol Number: 16-54); The University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center (Protocol Number: PA14-1060); and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Protocol Number: HSC-SPH-20-1339).