Passive smoking, also known as ‘second-hand’ smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is known to cause serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. Previous studies have shown a linkage between ETS and cognitive impairment, but this is the first to find a significant link with dementia syndromes, the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports.

China is the largest consumer of tobacco in the world, with 350 million smokers. Since 2006, the Chinese government has actively promoted the introduction of smoke-free environments in hospitals, schools, on public transport and in other public places, but implementation of these strategies has not been widespread.

Ruoling Chen, senior lecturer in public health from King’s College, London, and colleagues, interviewed 5,921 people aged over 60 in rural and urban communities of Anhui, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Shanghai and Shanxi to characterise their levels of ETS exposure and smoking habits and also assess levels of dementia syndromes. They found that 10 percent of the group had severe dementia syndromes. This was significantly related to exposure level and duration of passive smoking. The association with severe syndromes was found in people who had never smoked and in former and current smokers, according to a King’s College statement.

Chen said: ‘Passive smoking should be considered an important risk factor for severe dementia syndromes, as this study in China shows. Avoiding exposure to ETS may reduce the risk of severe dementia syndromes.’

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 80 percent of the more than one billion smokers worldwide live in low-and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest; but only 11 percent of the world’s population are protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws.

Source: IANS

29th September is World Heart Day

Still smoking? In this day and age. Maybe understanding how your body starts to recover after you quit smoking will help you kick the butt. 

1. There are immediate and long-term health benefits of quitting for all smokers.

Here are some things that take place in your body as soon as you quit smoking:

Within 20 minutes – Your heart rate and blood pressure drop.

12 hours - The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2-12 weeks – Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

1-9 months - Coughing and shortness of breath decrease.

1 year - Your risk of coronary heart disease is about half that of a smoker.

5 years - Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker’s, 5 to 15 years after quitting.

10 years - Your risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker and your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decreases.

15 years - The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker’s.

2. People of all ages who have already developed smoking-related health problems can still benefit from quitting

Here are some things that happen in a smoker’s body compared to those who continue:

At about 30: Gain almost 10 years of life expectancy

At about 40: Gain 9 years of life expectancy

At about 50: Gain 6 years of life expectancy

At about 60: Gain 3 years of life expectancy

Also people who quit smoking after having a heart attack reduce their chances of having another one by 50%.

3. Quitting smoking decreases the excess risk of many diseases related to second-hand smoke in children, such as respiratory diseases (e.g., asthma) and ear infections.

4. Quitting smoking reduces the chances of impotence, having difficulty getting pregnant, having premature births, babies with low birth weights and miscarriage.

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Content Courtesy: WHO

Dr Tom Heffernan and Dr Terence O’Neil, researchers at the Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research Group at Northumbria University, compared a group of current smokers with two groups of non-smokers, those who were regularly exposed to second-hand smoke and those who were not. Others exposed to second-hand smoke either lived with smokers or spent time with smokers, for example in a designated “smoking area,” and reported being exposed to second-hand smoke for an average of 25 hours a week for an average of four and a half years. Researchers found that non-smokers who had been exposed to second-hand smoke forgot 20% more in the memory tests.

Passive smoking is known to kill around 600,000 people every year. 

There is lack of awareness among users that most hookahs available in restaurants and hookah bars do not use flavoured tobacco but industrially produced chemical nicotine, which has been labelled as an insecticide covered by the Insecticides Act, 1968, and contain toxic chemicals, say experts.  In Goa too, chemical nicotine is widely smoked through hookahs in the many shacks dotting the state’s 105-km coastline. It is a huge hit among both foreign as well as Indian tourists. “There are businessmen who set up hookahs for us and give us the raw material and charge us rent on daily basis. We do not know how it works,” Cristos D’Souza, who runs a shack at Anjuna beach, said.

Source: IANS

Women smokers are on the rise. Here are some facts you didn’t know about women and smoking:  

About 200 million of the world’s one billion smokers are women

Far fewer women than men use tobacco. Globally, about 40% of men smoke as compared with nearly 9% of women. However, the epidemic of tobacco use among women is increasing in some countries. More research is needed to understand trends in tobacco use among women.

As many girls as boys now smoke in some countries

A WHO survey of smoking trends in youths showed that in half of the 151 countries surveyed, similar numbers of girls and boys smoked. Evidence suggests that most of these girls and boys will continue to smoke into adulthood. Bans on tobacco advertising, as called for in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, could help to stop the increase in tobacco use among girls.

Boys and girls start using tobacco for different reasons

Many more girls than boys smoke in the false belief that it is a good way to control weight. Low self-esteem is associated with smoking among girls, and available evidence from some developed countries shows that girls have lower self-esteem than boys. Tobacco control strategies must recognize that boys’ and girls’ decisions to start using tobacco are influenced by different cultural, psychosocial and socioeconomic factors.

Every year, 1.5 million women die from tobacco use

Of the more than 5 million people who die every year from tobacco use, approximately 1.5 million are women. Most (75%) of these women live in low- and middle-income countries. Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco use could kill up to 8 million people every year by 2030, of which 2.5 million would be women.

Women are one of the biggest targets of the tobacco industry

The tobacco industry gears richly-funded marketing campaigns towards women through advertisements that draw on gender stereotypes and falsely link tobacco use to concepts of beauty, prestige and freedom. The industry actively targets women because comparatively few women currently use tobacco, and women are increasingly able to afford tobacco.

More women than men smoke “light” cigarettes

Marketing strategies lure consumers with misleading categories, such as “light” or “low tar”. More women than men smoke “light” cigarettes (63% versus 46%), often in the mistaken belief that “light” means “safer”. In fact, “light” smokers often engage in compensatory smoking, inhaling more deeply and more frequently to absorb the desired amount of nicotine.

Tobacco use harms women differently from men

Women who smoke are more likely than those who do not to experience infertility and delays in conceiving. Smoking during pregnancy increases risks of premature delivery, stillbirth and newborn death, and may cause a reduction in breast milk. Smoking increases women’s risk for cancer of the cervix.

Women constitute 64% of deaths from second-hand smoke

Worldwide, second-hand smoke causes 430 000 adult deaths per year. Sixty-four per cent of these deaths occur in women. In some countries, second-hand smoke is a greater threat to women than the possibility that women might start using tobacco. More than 90% of the world’s population is still not covered by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.

People who smoke should avoid exposing the people with whom they live and work to second-hand smoke

Women and children often lack power to negotiate smoke-free spaces, including in their homes, in their workplaces and in other public spaces. Everyone, regardless of age or sex, should be protected from second-hand smoke.

Controlling tobacco use among women is an important part of any tobacco control strategy

Tobacco prevention and cessation programmes should be integrated into maternal, child and reproductive health services. Warnings about the harmful effects of tobacco must take into account that illiteracy is higher among women than men, and should use clear pictures to ensure that those who cannot read are also able to understand the health risks of tobacco use.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

 Content Courtesy: WHO

They found that when smokers were observed, at an average distance of 2.6 metres, there was an average of 70 percent more fine particulates in the air (PM2.5 or less than 2.5 mm in diameter) than when there were no smokers around. When standing next to a smoker at a bus stop, the mean fine particulate pollution level was 16 times the background level, with a peak of 26 times the background level.

Although  the problem of smoking on streets is being addressed with a growing number of cities successfully adopting smoke-free policies for at least some outdoor parts of shopping areas.  However, the fact that the city administration had not taken into account shopping areas policies should be put in place to protect the common man. Other likely benefits of smoke-free streets could be decreased street cleaning costs from less cigarette butt litter, a better public image for a city and the reduction of second-hand smoke drifting into shops and offices.

Source: IANS

1. Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices or other enclosed spaces when people burn tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis and water pipes. Everyone is exposed to its harmful effects.
2. Guidelines to Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control state that there is “no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke”. Creating 100% smoke-free environments is the only way to protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand tobacco smoke.
3. Second-hand smoke causes 600,000 premature deaths per year. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
4. In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.
5. Separate or ventilated smoking areas do not protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke can spread from a smoking area to a non-smoking area, even if the doors between the two areas are closed and even if ventilation is provided. Only 100% smoke-free environments provide effective protection.
6. About 40% of all children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home. Thirty-one per cent of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke occur in children.
7. Youths exposed to second-hand smoke at home are one-and-a-half to two times more likely to start smoking than those not exposed.
8. Ten per cent of the economic costs related to tobacco use are attributable to second-hand smoke. Tobacco use imposes both direct economic costs on society, such as those associated with treating tobacco-related diseases and indirect costs, such as those associated with reduced productivity or lost wages because of death or illness.
9. More than 94% of people are unprotected by smoke-free laws. However, in 2008 the number of people protected from second-hand smoke by such laws increased by 74% to 362 million from 208 million in 2007. Of the 100 most populous cities, 22 are smoke-free.
10. Through the tobacco control package called MPOWER, WHO helps countries to implement the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to protect people from second-hand smoke.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?

Content Courtesy: WHO

Passive smoking, often dubbed the ‘silent killer’, is more dangerous than you believe and the complications it creates have gone up like never before. ”Passive smoking is little talked about. But it’s critical. Getting exposed to second-hand smoke is just as bad as active smoking and passive smokers often suffer from lung problems, breathlessness and allergies,” Ravindra L. Kulkarni, a cardiologist and director of Just for Hearts, an organisation for heart care and lifestyle management, told IANS.

The first global study on passive smoking estimated that it causes 600,000 deaths every year. One-third of those killed are children who are often exposed to smoke at home, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated. ”Just by getting yourself exposed to smoke, you unknowingly expose yourself to all kinds of health problems. Women and children are especially vulnerable,” Amol Akhade, a consultant medical oncologist at International Oncology Services, told IANS. According to experts, a smoker’s exhaled smoke is called exhaled mainstream smoke. The smoke drifting from their lit cigarette is called sidestream smoke. The combination of mainstream and sidestream smoke is called second-hand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).

Most of the smoke that hangs in a room is sidestream smoke, which contains higher levels of cancer-causing compounds than mainstream smoke. ”Second-hand smoke is a common indoor pollutant at homes… sometimes because of reasons beyond your control, like a guest smoking, or smoke drifting in from outside. Children in particular are at risk of serious health effects from second-hand smoke,” said Aarti Goyal, a health activist.

According to Kulkarni, there have been rising number of asthma-like cases and of allergic reactions because of passive smoking. ”One of the biggest disadvantage of tackling passive smoking is that it is not visible, unlike active smoking,” he said. ”There are not as many studies done of how many people are affected by it. But from the cases that we get, we have seen that people exposed to smoke sometimes suffer from allergic reactions and it is worse for those with lung problems and asthma,” he said. Irritation of the eyes, nose and throat are some of the other complaints. Passive smokers have a higher risk of heart diseases, doctors say. So if you smoke and your spouse does not, beware. Studies also show that long-term exposure to second-hand smoke can increase the chances of lung cancer by 20-30 percent. Chances of artheosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, also increases in cases of long-term exposure to second-hand smoke.

While measures have been adopted to curb the ill-effects of smoking by means of putting a law in place that bans smoking in public places, poor implementation remains a problem. ”The risk of passive smoking is rising rapidly among the urban population. Banning smoking is one of the strategies to minimise the bad effects, but implementation is a major issue,” Akhade said. ”The high pollution level increases the risk more,” said Kulkarni. Spreading awareness may be a way to curb the problem. Anoop Jain, an occasional smoker, for instance, had no idea about the harms of passive smoking. ”I smoke occasionally when I am under stress. I know it is harmful to my health, but I had no idea that it was so harmful to my family too,” he said. ”It is especially scary that our kids get exposed to so much second-hand smoke every day! At home, the situation is under our control, but what about outside?” asked Rani Mehra, a mother of two school-going children. 

Also read: 10 facts you didn’t know about passive smoking

Source: IANS

Abhishek Shetty led the typical life of a young employee in an IT company. A regular smoker, the 32-year-old had a hectic schedule, odd sleeping hours and irregular meals – all of which caught up with him, and he suffered a heart attack at what his doctor called a “shockingly young age”.

“Five years back such cases were unheard of. But increasingly, we have young people coming to us with cardiac problems. It’s a serious problem and smoking is a major factor,” Ravindra L. Kulkarni, cardiologist and director of Just for Hearts, an organisation for heart care, told IANS.

“Abhishek’s is a case in point. A study of his case revealed that he led a very stressful life, thanks to the nature of his work. To add to that, he smoked regularly to relieve his stress. Ultimately he had a cardiac arrest,” Kulkarni added.

An angiography revealed a blockage in one of Shetty’s main arteries, for which an angioplasty had to be done. He has now changed his lifestyle completely. 

Cardiac ailments have become an increasingly common feature among people as young as in their late 20s and early 30s, and smoking is found to be one of the main contributing factors. 

“Health problems that you would have normally seen in people in their sixties – like those related to the heart or lungs – you see them in young people in the age group of 30-35 these days. It’s an unhealthy trend, to say the least,” said Suchetna Das, a cardiologist.

According to Kulkarni, in the past few years there has been a 30-40 percent rise in cardiac related ailments amongst those below the age of 40. Among his patients, 30-40 percent are heavy smokers. 

A number of young patients are those in high-stress and sedentary lifestyle jobs, like in BPOs and the IT sector.

Studies reveal that peer pressure and curiosity are the two most common reasons for a person to take up smoking. Most smokers also claim their regular dose of puff is a stress relaxant. 

“A number of young women also take up smoking to reduce weight. The idea is that nicotine affects the appetite… you don’t feel hungry, eat less and thus lose weight. Not only is it an unhealthy way to reduce weight, but also you hardly realise when the trick becomes an addiction,” Das said. 

Doctors say that most ailments begin with high blood pressure (BP). 

There has been a 20-25 percent rise among youngsters complaining of high blood pressure. So, if you are young and suddenly witness high BP, it may be wise to see your doctor, said Kulkarni.

Some of the common health problems that young people are being detected with are coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes and high blood pressure. 

Not just that. Oncologists reveal that there has been a rise in cancer cases as well because of increased tobacco usage.

“Cancer, like throat cancer, among youngsters is on the rise. And exposure to tobacco in various forms is the main culprit behind this trend,” Amol Akhade, consultant oncologist at International Oncology Services, told IANS.

Sharing a smoke in hip hookah joints which are mushrooming in cities like Delhi, is another popular lifestyle trend that is simply adding to the problem, Akhade said.

“The trend of smoking hookah is adding to the risk (of cancer) and both men and women are equally at risk,” he added.

Besides strict implementation of the law that bans smoking in public places, doctors also suggest initiation of Workplace Health Promotion Programmes.

“Companies should take up the responsibility of making their employees aware of a healthy lifestyle and about the ill effects of smoking. Ultimately, a healthy, young workforce works for the best for the company,” Kulkarni said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco usage kills at least five million people every year.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Source: IANS