Health Effects of Smoking: Using any kind of tobacco product is unsafe, especially for kids, teens, and young adults. But worldwide, at least 14 million young people aged 13 to 15 currently use tobacco products, according to CDC’s 2006–2017 Global Youth Tobacco Survey. Tobacco companies, meanwhile, spend billions of dollars every year on marketing tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes.
Since 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) has used World No Tobacco Day to highlight the harmful effects of cigarettes and other tobacco products on a person’s overall health. This year, WHO is focusing on preventing youth tobacco product use and the tobacco industry’s attempts to attract youth.
This World No Tobacco Day, learn what individuals and communities can do to help keep young people tobacco-free, or help them quit for good?
According to Dr. Aditya Sarin, Consultant, Medical Oncology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, about 40 percent of middle and high school students reported ever using any kind of tobacco product—including e-cigarettes—and 23 percent said they had used a tobacco product in the past 30 days.
Studies show that most adults who regularly use tobacco products started before the age of 18. Using any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe.
“Tobacco products—including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and most e-cigarettes—contain nicotine, which is an addictive drug. Being exposed to nicotine can also harm brain development. Exposure to nicotine can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control,” Dr. Sarin told Financial Express.com.
Secondhand smoke: A danger at home and abroad
- At least 500 million people are exposed to secondhand smoke.
- 1 in 4 India, are exposed to secondhand smoke.
- Children aged 3 to 11 have the highest exposure to secondhand smoke compared to any other age group.
- Indian children are more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke than children of other racial or ethnic groups.
- Quitting smoking and adopting smokefree policies help protect the health of people who do not smoke.
- The younger a person is when they start using tobacco products, the more likely they are to become dependent on nicotine. The tobacco industry uses this information to attract youth and young people to their products through ads and sponsorships in stores, online, in media, and at cultural events.
- Studies in the United States and other countries have shown that the more ads for tobacco products a young person sees, the more likely they are to use tobacco products.
Tobacco flavors
The flavors in tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, make these products appealing to kids and teens. Since 2009, tobacco companies have not been allowed to sell cigarettes in flavors other than menthol. Still, youth are more likely than adults to smoke menthol cigarettes.
Flavoring is also a major driver of e-cigarette use among young people. More than 2 out of 3 youth who currently use e-cigarettes use flavored e-cigarettes, and flavors are a major reason they report starting to use e-cigarettes.
The danger of e-cigarettes for youth
Since 2014, most U.S. youth who said they had ever used tobacco products reported using e-cigarettes. This percentage has grown over time. E-cigarettes typically contain nicotine. Newer e-cigarettes use a new form of nicotine called nicotine salts, which make it easier to inhale higher levels of nicotine.
Because of the recent rise in e-cigarette use by middle and high school students, CDC offers resources for parents, teachers, and health care providers to help them talk to kids about e-cigarettes.
What you can do
- Everyone—from individuals who influence youth directly to whole communities—can help prevent kids, teens, and young adults from trying and using tobacco products.
- Teenagers reaching to touch the world You can help prevent kids, teens, and young adults from trying and using tobacco products.
Parents and other caregivers can:
- Set a good example by being tobacco-free.
- Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases, and reduces the health of smokers in general.
- Quitting smoking lowers your risk for smoking-related diseases and can add years to your life.
Smoking and Death
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths.
Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths.
Smoking causes more deaths each year than the following causes combined:
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Illegal drug use
- Alcohol use
- Motor vehicle injuries
- Firearm-related incidents
- More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States.
- Smoking causes about 90% (or 9 out of 10) of all lung cancer deaths.1,2 More women die from lung cancer each year than from breast cancer.
- Smoking causes about 80% (or 8 out of 10) of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Cigarette smoking increases risk for death from all causes in men and women.
- The risk of dying from cigarette smoking has increased over the last 50 years
Smoking and Increased Health Risks
Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to develop heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Estimates show smoking increases the risk:
- For coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times
- For stroke by 2 to 4 times
- Of men developing lung cancer by 25 times
- Of women developing lung cancer by 25.7 times
- Smoking causes diminished overall health, increased absenteeism from work, and increased health care utilization and cost.
Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease
- Smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).
- Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease, which are among the leading causes of death in the United States.
- Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.
- Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form.
A stroke occurs when:
- A clot blocks the blood flow to part of your brain;
- A blood vessel in or around your brain bursts.
- Blockages caused by smoking can also reduce blood flow to your legs and skin.
- Smoking and Respiratory Disease
- Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.
- Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
- Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.
- If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.
- Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.
Smoking and Cancer
Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body:
- Mouth and throat (oral cavity and pharynx);
- Esophagus, voice box (larynx);
- Lung, bronchus, and trachea;
- Acute myeloid leukemia;
- Liver;
- Kidney and renal pelvis;
- Stomach;
- Uterine cervix;
- Pancreas;
- Urinary bladder;
- Colon and rectum
Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body:
- Bladder
- Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
- Cervix
- Colon and rectum (colorectal)
- Esophagus
- Kidney and ureter
- Larynx
- Liver
- Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)
- Pancreas
- Stomach
- Trachea, bronchus, and lung
- Smoking also increases the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and survivors.
Smoking and Other Health Risks
- Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and affects a person’s overall health.
- Smoking can make it harder for a woman to become pregnant. It can also affect her baby’s health before and after birth.
Smoking increases risks for:
- Preterm (early) delivery
- Stillbirth (death of the baby before birth)
- Low birth weight
- Sudden infant death syndrome (known as SIDS or crib death)
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Orofacial clefts in infants
- Smoking can also affect men’s sperm, which can reduce fertility and also increase risks for birth
- defects and miscarriage.
- Smoking can affect bone health.Women past childbearing years who smoke have weaker bones than women who never smoked.
- They are also at greater risk for broken bones.
- Smoking affects the health of your teeth and gums and can cause tooth loss.
- Smoking can increase your risk for cataracts (clouding of the eye’s lens that makes it hard for you to see).
- It can also cause age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
- AMD is damage to a small spot near the center of the retina, the part of the eye needed for central vision.
“Smoking is a cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus and can make it harder to control. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for active smokers than nonsmokers. Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function. Smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis,” Dr. Sarin told Financial Express.com.