Smoking Is Injurious to Health – A Report
Article by Santa Joe
A study published this week has shown that smoking-related deaths bypass all the natural indicators of mortality, namely sex and class. Normally those of a higher social class and woman have considerably longer life spans, but researchers from Glasgow University and NHS Scotland have discovered that non-smokers in the bottom social tiers had a longer life expectancy than smokers in the two highest social tiers, reversing the data normally gathered when smoking is not a factor.
Of those who were the least socially advantaged, 56% of women and 36% of men who had never smoked after 28 years of monitoring were still alive compared to 41% of female and 24% of male smokers in the highest social strata. The study is one of the first to gather long-term data about the impact smoking has on health, following 15,000 people from the West of Scotland since 1972. In The British Medical Journal the researchers concluded that “in essence, neither affluence nor being female offers a defence against the toxicity of tobacco.”
The study gave considerable weight to the NHS’s drive to encourage smokers to quit, as it also proved that amongst those who had quit, death rates of ex-smokers were far closer to those of the people who had never smoked, proving that kicking the habit really can impact on long-term health. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said, “This research reinforces the message that stopping smoking – or never taking up the habit – is the biggest single thing anyone can do to improve their health.”
At the moment it is estimated that 23% of the adult population smoke, with some areas seeing that figure rise to closer to 40%. Scotland has a particularly high rates. Since the seventies, a considerable amount of time and government resources has been invested in educating the population about the health risks of cigarettes, as well as offering help to those who want to quit. Popular quitting tactics include counselling, hypnotherapy, nicotine patches and nicotine gum. There are also two prescription-only pills that some people have had success with, Champix and Zyban. Champix works by binding with the nicotine receptors in the brain, meaning that they stop sending out the ‘craving’ signals to the brain. Zyban relieves the withdrawal that quitters experience when they give up.
After a long struggle, signs are coming that the battle to reduce smoking -related death is finally starting to be won. Cancer Research commissioned a report that indicates that in twenty years, lung cancer rates (smoking is responsible for about 90% of cases) will drop by one-fifth. Researchers said that the smoking ban and other preventative measures such as the newly-introduced warning photos on cigarette packs would encourage a continuing drop in the number of smokers. Currently 50 people per 100,000 are predicted to develop lung cancer, with smokers also at a high risk of falling prey to heart disease and a variety of other cancers.
About the Author
Santa Joe is a freelance writer and works with a non profit organization to spread knowledge on Champix. For more information on quit smoking he recommends you to visit http://www.theonlineclinic.co.uk/
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