Packyears

Clinical intent

Standard clinical measure of quantifying smoking history.

Correlates with survival, particularly in patients with diagnosed lung cancer. In one study of patients with advanced lung cancer (stage IIIB/IV NSCLC), median overall survival was 10.8 months in patients with >15 pack year history, compared to 14.6 months in those with ≤15 pack year history [1].

Calculation

Multiply packs of cigarettes smoked per day with the years the patient has smoked.

References

[1] Janjigian YY, McDonnell K, Kris MG, Shen R, Sima CS, Bach PB, Rizvi NA, Riely GJ. Pack-years of cigarette smoking as a prognostic factor in patients with stage IIIB/IV nonsmall cell lung cancer. Cancer. 2010 Feb 1;116(3):670-5. doi: 10.1002/cncr.24813. PMID: 20029977; PMCID: PMC2815173.