Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
While smoking is slowly being relegated to the fringes of our society, the habit is continuing to have a significant effect on the health of the American population.
According to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, approximately 14 million medical conditions across the US can be tied to the habit.
Using data from the 2009 US Census, National Health Interview Survey and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey – study researchers found that about 11 million Americans have reported major medical conditions affiliated with smoking. The study team also determined that another 3 million have conditions currently unreported.
“That’s obviously an immense number,” study author Brian Rostron, a statistician at the US Food and Drug Administration, told Reuters. “It’s continuing to be a problem. Even if people are former smokers, they have lasting lung damage.”
The estimate of 14 million is up from 12.7 medical conditions found a decade ago by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study team said they weren’t sure if the increase is due to better survey methods or those with smoking-related conditions living longer due to better treatments.
“For each annual death, there are 15 to 20 people living with major disease caused by smoking,” study author Terry Pechacek, an expert on smoking at the CDC told HealthDay. “Smoking not only will kill you, it will damage your health and make your life worse.”
The study team also found that between 40 and 50 percent of current tobacco users over the age of 65 reported a minimum of one smoking-related ailment, with 17 percent of men and 14 percentage of women reporting a number of conditions.
The most commonly-reported condition was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, with 4.3 million. COPD was followed by 2.3 million heart attacks, 1.8 million incidents of diabetes, 1.1 million strokes and over a million instances of cancers, affecting everything from the lungs to the esophagus.
In looking at lung function tests, the study researchers concluded that COPD cases were actually being underreported and about 7.5 million Americans are living with the condition. This underreporting of COPD led the researchers to increase their estimate to 14 million affected Americans.
Pechacek, a deputy director at the Office of Smoking and Health at the CDC, said that COPD amplifies the breathing difficulties older individuals normally acquire.
“It’s a creeping disease, and people accept the fact that they can’t walk up two flights of stairs just because of ageing, but that does becomes a clinical condition,” he told Reuters reporter Kathryn Doyle.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Steven A. Schroeder, an internal medicine expert from the University of California, San Francisco, said the new study should emphasize the direct and long-term health impacts of smoking.
“Tobacco control has been called one of the most important health triumphs of the past 50 years,” Schroder said. “Yet, although we have come a long way, there is still much more to be done, with the number of smokers worldwide now just short of 1 billion people.”
“The article by Rostron et al is a stark reminder of that unfinished work,” he added.
—–
GET PRIMED! Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies & TV Shows Anytime – Start Free Trial Now
—–
Comments