Epidemiology of Smoking

While cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, people still do it. The estimated amount of deaths every year is 438,000 because of the harmful effects of cigarette smoke. Tobacco smoke contains seven thousand chemical compounds. Smoking for as few as five years can have a permanent effect on many vital organs in the human body. Cigarette smoking is the cause of at least twenty-five diseases including, lung and other cancers, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), acute respiratory illnesses, and adverse reproductive effects. Bad breath, coughing, wheezing, and respiratory infections are symptoms that come along with smoking. A person who smokes lives thirteen to fifteen

Every year, there are over 400,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States. A large percentage of these are due to lung cancer, whose leading cause is smoking. However, not all deaths are smokers themselves. Anyone in the vicinity can fall victim to second hand smoke. These people, through no action of their own, can have their lives threatened.

Regardless of consumer belief, smoking dramatically increases the chances of contracting many diseases - such as heart disease or high blood pressure. Although not every user experiences these diseases, it is well known that smoking can decrease one’s life time dramatically. The information given states, “It’s virtually impossible to escape the effects of tobacco” (Jordan). This stated, Jordan expresses that essentially if you use tobacco, there is a fairly high chance that one will damage his/her body in some way. Furthermore, there are many more diseases that can be contracted and the ones stated are only the most common. Continuing, the author explains the affects of smoking, “Expose to specific elements of secondhand smoke causes blood clot more easily and damages arterial lining” (Jordan). As stated, certain components in tobacco increase the chances of high blood pressure and blood clots to form in the body. Concluding, respiratory problems in young children can occur through second hand smoking, these include asthma. Children that asthma effect increases from smoke, “Asthma turns out to be about twice as common in children exposed to high levels of second hand smoke” (Secondhand Smoke: Is it a Hazard). Not only does tobacco smoke increase other diseases, it also increases the severity of diseases already contracted as shown in the previous quote. To conclude, tobacco smoke

According to 2006 United States' Surgeon General report, secondhand smoke is a cause for premature death and disease in children and non-smokers. In addition, children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, ear problems, acute respiratory infections, and severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children and to adults the secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer. Finally, the Surgeon General report states, “the scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2006).“Third hand smoke is the name given to the toxic particles from cigarette smoke that settle onto surfaces in your home and remain long after smoking has ceased” (Heidtman, 2010), which means that even if a person smokes in the house when there is no one present the particles that state on the surfaces will still harm the health of the family that resides in the house. According to the Smoking-Related Fires in Residential Buildings (2008-2010) by the US Fire Administration,

Cigarette smoking has been identified as the number one cause of preventable disease as well as, death worldwide. Today, smoking-related diseases are claiming over 4 00,000 American lives each year. Among people who smoke, 70 percent of them are teenager. Smoking harms almost every organ in the body, causing lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and chronic pulmonary diseases. As a result, researchers have found out that teenagers in Washington State start to purchase tobacco at an early age. The Washington State’s top lawyer was set to unveil legislation seeking to raise legal the smoking age from 18 to 21 (Morris). If the bill would be passed

Healthy People 2020 describes some of the harmful effects caused by tobacco. Those causes outlined are cancer, heart disease and stroke, lung diseases, reproductive effects, and many other diseases. (2017) These harmful effects are direct to the smoker but are also harmful secondhand to those who because subjected to the smoke. Children are especially exposed to secondhand smoke as they have limited control in escaping from it. Diseased commonly caused and also discussed in Healthy People 2020 are “severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)” (2017) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services posted an article with the Surgeon General, titled, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress.; outlined in

The table that was chosen from Health United States, 2014 report, was on the following determinant of health: “Current cigarette smoking among adults age 18 and over, by sex (female), race and age; United States, selected years 1965-2013”; this table (below) was listed as table 52 on the report, found on page 182. Using the data from the selected table, a specific health problem that should be the focus of one research subject in public health is cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking is a specific health problem because the table, shows the trend of cigarette smoking (with some variation), on the decline for all categories for females (race and age) as years progress. The problem of cigarette smoking still needs to be addressed

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases and recognized as a growing public health concern. Exposure to tobacco smoke either through active smoking or by secondhand smoke can cause and/or exacerbate an asthma attack or asthma symptoms (Californian Environmental Protection Agency [Cal EPA, 2006]). In a person with asthma, exposure to cigarette smoke can initiate and worsens asthma by irritating the airways to cause asthma symptoms (World Health Organization [WHO, 2010]). The impact of Asthma is not limited to those with the disease, but also affect their family members, friends, schools and businesses (WHO, 2010).

According to the Healthy People 2020, each year, approximately 480,000 Americans die from tobacco-related illnesses. Further, more than 16 million Americans suffer from at least one disease caused by smoking. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). The effect of cigarette smoking is alarming. Use of tobacco in the form of smoking is not only dangerous to the one who is smoking but also to a non-smoker. Tobacco harms a human physically and mentally. Major cause of lung cancer is smoking. It is important to prevent the use of tobacco because it is the largest preventable cause of diseases and death in the United States. According to Chin, Hong, Gillen, Bates and Okechukwu (2012) Blue-collar workers smoke at higher rates than white-collar workers and

In the United States 20% of all deaths are caused from tobacco smoke; it is the most leading cause of preventable death. Anyone who smokes may not be aware they are affecting everyone else around them. Most doctors give information about smoking to mothers so they know how dangerous it is when their child is breathing in the smoke. Children two years of age or younger have a higher risk for developing a serious condition or if they already have one it could make that worse. To help a child to not develop a serious condition the best thing for a smoker to do is to quit. Although, be sure to be aware of other smokers. Children can still be exposed to tobacco smoke in many different places including: restaurants, the mall, a grocery store, and

The first review was from an article in The New England Journal of Medicine called: “Smoking and Mortality — Beyond Established Causes” written by several physicians. (Carter, 2015) It explains how the mortality rates are higher among recent smokers than people who have never smoked. This seems to be attributed to the 21 common diseases that maybe caused by cigarette smoking. Data was collected from group studies in the United States that followed smokers and non-smokers between 2000 and 2011. A study that included men and women who were age 55 or older. As a result, they found that the participant’s mortality rates were higher due to diseases that had not been formally recognized as being triggered by cigarette smoking.

To begin, exposure to passive smoke as a child harms the function of the respiratory system by causing illnesses to develop in the lungs during childhood. Children who were exposed to passive smoke are highly prone to develop respiratory illnesses. For instance, asthma is one of the most common illness caused by exposure to passive smoke. Studies show that there is an increased risk of asthma in children associated with maternal passive smoke exposure by 20% to 85% (Burke et al, 2012). Through these statistics, we can quantitatively show how harmful exposure of particles from tobacco smoke is to the lungs of children and the possibility of developing asthma at childhood from passive exposure through the mother. Asthma is a respiratory condition resulting from particles in the bronchi of the lungs leading to breathing difficulty, whereby causing an inflammation of the air passages in the lungs due to particles affecting sensitivity of nerve endings (Asthma Society of Canada, 2015.) Particles such as nicotine from tobacco affect the sensitivity of the nerve ending in the airway leading to irritability resulting in buildup of mucus in airway. These particles easily pass through our passage way ,because they damage the mucus lining, so they are not easily blocked, which is why they enter into the lungs causing irritation triggering an asthma attack. While examining 133,800 to 161,600 asthma related cases, it was found that children during early childhood from two months to five

An estimated 36.5 million or 15.1 % of adults aged 18 years old and older currently smoke cigarettes and more than 16,000,000 have smoking or live with diseases that are related to smoking. According to US department of health and human services, over the past five decades, there is a significant decline in cigarette smoking in the U.S. The progress has slowed in recent years and the prevalence of use of other tobacco products such as vapes, e-cigars and smokeless tobacco

Approximately 7,500 infants die due to sudden infant death syndrome due to exposure of secondhand smoke in America (“American Lung Association”). Children all over the United States are unwillingly exposed to parental secondhand smoke in public, in cars, and at home. When children are exposed to secondhand smoke, many develop life threatening diseases later in life as a result of that exposure. In the United States, smoking should be banned while in the presence of children. Children’s lungs are vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke, and this can cause serious problems down the road. Some states have already banned smoking in public and others are in the process. Secondhand smoke exposure has the possibility of causing nicotine

Secondhand smoking causes many defects for children as they grow up. As parents of young children smoke in the car, these children are exposed to this secondhand smoke frequently. According to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infection, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)." As these children group up, the health problems resulting from the secondhand smoke exposure affects their lifestyle and future.