Men who continued to smoke after being diagnosed with cancer had an increased risk of death compared with those who quit smoking, U.S. researchers said Friday.

The new research, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, showed it is not too late to stop smoking after cancer diagnosis, the researchers said.

They used data from a study investigating the association between lifestyle characteristics and risk of cancer among middle- aged and older men in Shanghai, China. Between 1986 and 1989, over 18,000 men aged 45 to 64 were enrolled in the study.

They determined more than 1,600 participants had developed cancer by 2010. Of these participants, 340 were nonsmokers, 545 quit smoking before their cancer diagnosis, and 747 were smokers at diagnosis.

Of the 747 smokers at diagnosis, 214 quit after diagnosis, 197 continued smoking consistently, and the remaining 336 smoked intermittently.

Compared with men who did not smoke after a cancer diagnosis, those who smoked after diagnosis had a 59 percent increase in risk of death from all causes, after adjusting for factors including age, cancer site, and treatment type, the researchers said.