Smoking–the real cost

(Picture Source: Malic, 2020)

Tobacco use causes 8 million deaths each year. It is considered the worsts epidemic worldwide. To put it through another lens, half of smokers will die from causes related to tobacco. Most smokers live in low to medium level income countries. In addition, to smoking-related diseases, children in poor countries who work in the tobacco fields suffer from green tobacco sickness. This is a disease caused by nicotine entering through their skin when they handle wet tobacco leaves (WHO, 2019). Second-hand smoke is also a problem related to smoking that affects health, increases mortality rates and impacts DALY  (adjusted productive years lost due to the burden of disease or premature death) scores. Indeed, according to a study out of New Zealand, even if a person does not smoke, breathing the smoking by-product of others contributes to:

• Ischaemic heart disease
• Stroke
• Lung cancer in adults
• Asthma
• Lower respiratory infections
• Ear infections
• SID (Sudden Infant Death)
• Low birth weight  (Mason, 2016)

Worldwide, second-hand smoke in 2004 was responsible for “47% of deaths from second-hand smoke occurred in women, 28% in children, and 26% in men” (Oberg, Jaakkola, Woodward, Peruga, & Prûss-Ustûn, 2011). In addition, the authors of this study point out that 61% of DALY loss was due to children’s illness or death related to specifically to second-hand smoke. The WHO, links Tobacco to the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases (2020).

Risk Factors:

It has been established that several factors affect the risk of smoking:

• Socioeconomic status
• Age
• Race/ethnicity
• Education
• Geographic location

Living below the poverty line, lack of education or health insurance, and professional vocation all can have an impact on the likelihood that a person will become a smoker. For example, U.S. construction workers had a prevalence of smoking estimated at 31.4% whereas 8.7% of teachers or librarians reported they smoked (CDC, 2018)

Cost:

Smoking costs the U.S. $300 billion per year in lost productivity, medical care, and deaths. This is accounts for both smoking and second-hand smoke exposure (CDC, 2019). The total economic cost worldwide is estimated to be at a staggering $1436 billion as of 2012. This number is equivalent to 1.8% of the world’s GDP (Goodchild, Nargis, & Tursan D’espaignet, 2017).

Sources

CDC. (2018, August 17). Smoking Prevalence – Lifestyle Risk Factors. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showHBSmokingPrevalence

CDC. (2019, July 23). Economic Trends in Tobacco. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/economics/econ_facts/index.htm

Goodchild, M., Nargis, N., & Tursan D’espaignet, E. (2017, January 4). Global economic cost of smoking-attributable diseases. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/27/1/58

Mason, K. (2016, April 1). Burden of Disease From Second-Hand Smoke Exposure in New Zealand. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27356248-burden-of-disease-from-second-hand-smoke-exposure-in-new-zealand/

WHO. (2019, July 26). Tobacco. Retrieved February 31, 2020, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco

WHO. (2020). Eastern Mediterranean Region. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from http://www.emro.who.int/noncommunicable-diseases/causes/tobacco-use.html

VIDEOS:

Iheed. (2013, February 26). 0:49 / 2:46 Smoking and its effects on Health – Stop today! Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW6hwmdZbmE

MDedge. (2019, February 12). Smoking’s lifetime cost: $1.9M per smoker. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udIXFGN8nLI

PICTURE CREDIT

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

Photo by Luka Malic on Unsplash