How Effective is Fear of Lung Cancer as a Smoking Cessation Motivator?

A risk score for lung cancer derived from genetic and clinical data has been shown to motivate smokers to quit. However, smokers with a relatively low (but not insignificant) risk score are more likely to carry on smoking. To understand this observation, the balance between smoking cessation motivators and de‐motivators must be understood. A relatively low risk score can act as a de‐motivator. Other de‐motivators that have been recorded and were observed by researchers involved in this project were: nicotine addiction and fear of withdrawal symptoms, optimism bias, confirmation bias, attentional bias, post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxieties about smoking cessation and weight gain, side effects of smoking cessation therapy, fatalism, peer pressure and lack of family cohesion. This long list of de‐motivators serves to emphasize the complexity of the psychological make‐up of the individual smoker. This is illustrated by a set of case histories (anonymised for confidentiality). The future use of a risk score as a smoking cessation motivator is discussed and suggestions are made as to how a risk score could be made more effective including inclusion of scoring for cardiovascular risk.