Washington: A large study has found that cigarette smoking prior to the first diagnosis of lung (stage I), bladder, kidney or head and neck cancer increases the risk of developing a second smoking-associated cancer.

"As survival improves for a number of smoking-related cancers, patients are living longer; however, smoking may increase the risk of developing a second smoking-related cancer among these survivors," said Meredith S. Shiels, lead study author and research fellow with the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.