Researchers have found yet another reason for smokers to kick the habit. A new study suggests smokers are more likely to have advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis than former smokers or nonsmokers.

Researchers at the Roger Maris Cancer Center in Fargo, North Dakota, looked at the records of 11,716 cancer patients in three states. They compared each person’s cancer stage at the time of diagnosis with smoking history – whether the person smoked currently, had quit a year or more before diagnosis, or did not smoke. Their findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Vol. 21, No. 5: 907-913).

The researchers found that smokers had more than twice the risk of developing metastatic cancer (cancer that spreads to a different part of the body) than nonsmokers. In the study, 24.8 % of smokers were diagnosed with metastatic cancer, while 19.8% of former smokers and only 12.4% of nonsmokers had such advanced cancer.

According to ACS statistics, 556,500 Americans will die from cancer in 2003, and metastases are responsible for the majority of cancer deaths.

Current smokers also were more likely to have cancer that had spread to lymph nodes than former smokers or nonsmokers.

These findings were strongest for patients with prostate cancer and with cancers of the head and neck and less certain for patients with kidney, bladder, and stomach cancer.

Smokers with lung cancer tended to have a more dangerous pattern than former or nonsmokers when their cancer had spread. For example, the lung cancer was more likely to have spread to the brain in smokers.

The researchers said they could not fully explain why current smokers seemed to have a greater risk of advanced cancer than former smokers. They said it may be due to an effect of smoking, or it may be because smokers may be less likely to seek medical care and their cancer diagnosis is caught later.

The study also could not determine whether smoking actually causes cancer to spread more quickly. The researchers recommended further study to answer that question.

However, they said their work lends support to the idea that it’s never too late to quit smoking.

Joanne Pike, counseling manager for the American Cancer Society Quitline, a smoking cessation resource, agrees.

“We know it’s really hard to quit,” she said, “but it’s never too late to quit and we do have resources to help you.”

The ACS Quitline can counsel smokers who want to quit, and provide referrals to other smoking cessation programs.