What`s
Awareness of Health Hazards of Smoking among Young Smokers and Non Smokers
Objective: To assess awareness of health hazards of smoking among smokers and non-smokers. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was performed from January to March 2009 at two local colleges of Rawalpindi. We interviewed 260 randomly selected male smokers and 260 non-smokers, between the ages of 19 to 30. All of them were daily smokers according to WHO criteria. The tool used for the interview was a self administered questionnaire designed for the study comprising questions about health hazards of smoking. The data collected were processed by Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Results: We found smokers to be less aware less aware of all the health hazards of smoking as compared to the non-smokers. This implied to Lung cancer, emphysema, worsening of asthma by smoking, hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and all other hazards. The non-smokers showed an increased awareness of 71.4% when compared to smokers who showed a net awareness of 51.3%. Conclusion: Smokers are less aware of all the health hazards of smoking as compared to the non-smokers. Keywords: Smoking, Lung cancer, Emphysema, Health hazards. Introduction The most prevalent form of tobacco use in Pakistan is smoking. Of 1.1 million smokers in the world, 800 million are in the developing world. The tighter regulations and taxes posed to the tobacco industry in the developed world have shifted its focus towards developing countries. By 2030 tobacco is expected to become the single major cause of death worldwide.1 Smoking causes ischemic heart disease, hypertension, chronic obstructive disease, emphysema, stroke and peptic ulcers. Smoking causes lung cancer as it is responsible for 87% of lung cancer in USA. Apart from lung cancers it is known to cause cancers of the bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, pharynx, larynx, esophagus and mouth and so is responsible for one third of all deaths due to cancer. It is also well known for the harmful role it plays in development of impotence, infertility and its deleterious effects on the fetus in utero.2Approximately 4.83 million deaths were attributable to smoking in 2000 and half of these deaths were among people aged 30 to 69 years, resulting in a large number of premature deaths. Although the deaths due to smoking are equal in developed and developing countries but developed countries are affected more because of increased rate of premature deaths.3 Tobacco use mainly begins in early adolescence.4Majority prefers moderately high-priced cigarette brand with a filter, smoke ten cigarettes or less in a day, start in teens mostly and experience breathlessness and cough.5The most injurious effect of nicotine in cigarettes is preservation of addiction. Various other lethal toxins in tobacco have other hazardous effects. Nicotine increases the heart rate, causes the constriction of vessels, increases the blood pressure and fatty acids are poured into blood. To further deteriorate the situation CO exerts its effects too and all the above mentioned features lead to heart attack.6, 7 Tobaocco is the major cause of lung cancer The total cases of lung cancer caused by smoking are 1.2 million and are still rising.8Newer studies have shown associations between schizophrenia and smoking.9 Childrens are more subjected to passive smoking. According to World Health Organization estimates nearly 700 million or almost half of the world's children are inhaling tobacco smoke specially in their own home environments.10 Even today tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States.11 A daily smoker is someone who smokes any tobacco product at least once a day. An occasional smoker is someone who smokes, but not every day. A "tobacco user" is someone who uses any tobacco product.12The study was carried out to assess awareness of health hazards of smoking as compared to non smokers of same age group. Materials and Methods |
Sumaira Zareef* Humaira Zafar** Mobeena Ehsan Dodhy*** Abbas Hayat****
*House officer Department of Pathology, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi. **Post graduate trainee M.Phil, Department of Pathology, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi. ***Associate Professor Hematology, Department of Pathology, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi. ****Professor and Head of Department, Department of Pathology, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi and Rawalpindi Medical College. The tool used for the interview was a self administered questionnaire designed for the study comprising questions about health hazards of smoking. The tool used was a self administered questionnaire designed for the study which comprised basic questions as age of the person, years he has been smoking for and numbers of cigarettes smoked per day. The questionnaire included questions about the health hazards of smoking specially in reference to the systemic effects and chronic diseases caused by cigarette smoking which included lung cancer, emphysema, worsening of asthma by smoking, hypertension, heart attack stroke loss of vision, renal cancer, bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, impotence cancer, infertility staining of teeth, oral ulcers, paler looks in smokers.13-20 The data collected was processed by Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Results Our study showed that smokers are less aware of all the health hazards of smoking as compared to the non smokers (table 1 and figure 1), as for lung cancer (87% as compared to 100%), emphysema (75% as compared to 88%), worsening of asthma by smoking (63% as compared to 88%), hypertension (61.9% as compared to 84.6%), heart attack (53.8% as compared to 73%), stroke (30% as compared to 73.8%), loss of vision (25.8% as compared to 50%), renal cancer (55.4% as compared to 69.2%), bladder cancer (47% as compared to 73%), pancreatic cancer (40% as compared to 68%), esophageal cancer (49.6% as compared to 64%), impotence (39.6% as compared to 88%), infertility (35.7% as compared to 64.2%), staining of teeth (49.2% as compared to 70%), oral ulcers (50% as compared to 85%), paler looks in smokers (42.6% as compared to 61.9%) . The non smokers showed an increased awareness of 71.4% when compared to smokers who showed a net awareness of 51.3%. Table 1: Awareness of Health Hazards of Smoking. For Complete Abstract on your email Pls. Contact Chief Editor APIMS
|