Smoking impairs molecular response, and reduces overall survival in patients with chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms: A retrospective cohort study

The effects of smoking on the molecular response (MR) and overall survival (OS) in patients with chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) have not been investigated before. We analysed a historical cohort of 498 consecutive patients diagnosed with MPNs. Moreover, we analysed a subgroup of 270 consecutive patients with MPNs with > 1 measurement of the JAK2V617F variant allele frequency. The data were analysed using Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox regression analysis, along with linear regression models. In all patients, the rate of MR was significantly higher in never-smokers compared with current smokers in the univariate model (HR, 1·9; 95% CI, 1·1-3·3; P = 0·033) and the multivariate model (HR, 1·9; 95% CI, 1·1-3·5; P = 0·029). Similar findings were observed with different cut-off values for a partial MR. A subgroup analysis including only interferon-α2-treated patients showed similar results. In multivariate analyses, the OS was significantly better for never-smokers (HR, 0·46; 95% CI, 0·29-0·75; P = 0·002) than current smokers. The differences were more pronounced in the pegylated interferon-α2-treated patients. However, no significant interaction of interferon-α2 treatment was observed. In conclusion, we found that tobacco smoking reduced the rate of MR and OS in patients with MPNs. Cessation of smoking should be encouraged.