According to a U.S. research patients with head and neck cancer linked to human papillomavirus have worse outcomes if they smoked or are smokers.

Clinical Cancer Research published a study which suggests that current or former smokers may need a more aggressive treatment regimen.

Thomas Carey of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor and senior study author says that the  research shows that human papillomavirus-positive head and neck cancers tend to be more responsive to current treatments and patients overall tend to have better outcomes than patients with human papillomavirus-negative tumors.

Carey said that the new study finds that current tobacco users with human papillomavirus-positive tumors were five times more likely to have their cancer recur. Even former smokers had an increased risk of recurrence.

Carey further added," Because the effect of human papillomavirus is so strong in giving a very good prognostic picture, we were surprised to find that smoking remained a huge issue, and it actually affected the outcome in patients who smoked."

124 patients with advanced cancer of the tonsils or the base of the tongue were looked at in the study. Of the human papillomavirus-positive patients who had never used tobacco, 6 percent had a recurrence of cancer. (With Input from Agencies)