Smoking and illness

Smoking and Illness

From http://www.ash.org.uk/

FACT SHEET NO. 2

July 2003

SMOKING STATISTICS: ILLNESS AND DEATH

Illness caused by smoking

Smoking has more than 50 ways of making life a misery through illness and more than 20 ways of killing you. In general, smokers endure poorer health than non-smokers. It has been estimated that, in England , 284,000 patients are admitted to NHS hospitals each year due to disease caused by smoking, occupying an average of 9,500 hospital beds every day.[1] In addition, smoking related illness accounts for 8 million consultations with GPs and over 7 million prescriptions each year.1

Half of all teenagers who are currently smoking will die from diseases caused by tobacco if they continue to smoke. One quarter will die after 70 years of age and one quarter before, with those dying before 70 losing on average 23 years of life.[2] It is estimated that between 1950 and 2000 six million Britons, 60 million people worldwide, would have died from tobacco-related diseases.[3]

Non-lethal illness

Smokers face a higher risk than non-smokers for a wide variety of illnesses, many of which may be fatal (see “Deaths caused by smoking” below). However, many medical conditions associated with smoking, while they may not be fatal, may cause years of debilitating illness or other problems. These include: [4]

Increased risk for smokers
Acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (gum disease)	Muscle injuries
Angina (20 x risk)	Neck pain
Back pain	Nystagmus (abnormal eye movements)
Buerger’s Disease (severe circulatory disease)	Ocular Histoplasmosis (fungal eye infection)
Duodenal ulcer	Osteoporosis (in both sexes)
Cataract (2 x risk)	Osteoarthritis
Cataract, posterior subcapsular (3 x risk)	Penis (inability to have an erection)
Colon Polyps	Peripheral vascular disease
Crohn’s Disease (chronic inflamed bowel)	Pneumonia
Depression	Psoriasis (2 x risk)
Diabetes (Type 2, non-insulin dependent)	Skin wrinkling (2 x risk)
Hearing loss	Stomach ulcer
Influenza	Rheumatoid arthritis (for heavy smokers)[5]
Impotence (2 x risk)	Tendon injuries
Optic Neuropathy (loss of vision, 16 x risk)	Tobacco Amblyopia (loss of vision)
Ligament injuries	Tooth loss
Macular degeneration (eyes, 2 x risk)	Tuberculosis
Function impaired in smokers
Ejaculation (volume reduced)	Sperm count reduced
Fertility (30% lower in women)	Sperm motility impaired
Immune System (impaired)	Sperm less able to penetrate the ovum
Menopause (onset 1.74 years early on average)	Sperm shape abnormalities increased
Symptoms worse in smokers
Asthma	Graves’ disease (over-active thyroid gland)
Chronic rhinitis (chronic inflammation of the nose)	Multiple Sclerosis
Diabetic retinopathy (eyes)	Optic Neuritis (eyes)
Disease more severe or persistent in smokers
Common cold	Pneumonia
Crohn’s Disease (chronic inflamed bowel)	Tuberculosis
Influenza

Deaths caused by smoking

One in two long-term smokers will die prematurely as a result of smoking – half of these in middle age. Every year in the UK , about 120,000 people in the UK are killed by smoking, accounting for one fifth of all UK deaths. [6] Most die from one of the three main diseases associated with cigarette smoking: lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease (bronchitis and emphysema) and coronary heart disease. The table below shows the percentage and numbers of deaths attributable to smoking.

Estimated percentages and numbers of deaths attributable to smoking in the UK by cause (based on 1997 mortality data) [7]
				Deaths from disease estimated to be caused by smoking
	Number			As % of all deaths from disease
	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total
Cancer
Lung	19,600	9,600	29,200	89	75	84
Upper respiratory	1,500	400	1,900	74	50	66
Oesophagus	2,900	1,700	4,600	71	65	68
Bladder	1,600	300	1,900	47	19	37
Kidney	700	100	800	40	6	27
Stomach	1,600	300	1,900	35	11	26
Pancreas	600	900	1,500	20	26	23
Unspecified site	2,400	600	3000	33	7	20
Myeloid Leukaemia	200	100	300	19	11	15
Respiratory
Chronic obstructive lung disease	14,000	9,700	23,700	86	81	84
Pneumonia	5,600	4,800	10,500	23	13	17
Circulatory
Ischaemic heart disease	16,800	7,500	24,300	22	12	17
Cerebrovascular disease	3,000	3,800	6,900	12	9	10
Aortic aneurysm	3,800	2,000	5,800	61	52	57
Myocardial degeneration	200	300	500	22	12	15
Atherosclerosis	100	100	200	15	7	10
Digestive
Ulcer of the stomach or duedenum	900	1,000	2,000	45	45	45
Total caused by smoking	75,600	43,200	118,800
*Preventable by smoking:**
Parkinson's	900	400	1,300	55	28	43
Cancer of the endometrium		100	100		17	17
Total prevented by smoking
Deaths from all causes due to smoking (causes less prevented)	74,700	42,700	117,400

* Studies have shown that smoking appears to have a protective effect against the onset of some diseases such as endometrial cancer. However, the positive effect is so small in comparison with the overwhelming toll of death and disease caused by smoking that there is no direct public health benefit.

Deaths caused by smoking are six times higher than the 20,170 deaths arising from: road accidents (3,444); poisoning and overdose (2,663); other accidental deaths (8,986); murder and manslaughter (503); suicide (4,379); and HIV infection (195) in the UK during 1998.[8] World-wide, about 4 million die prematurely each year as a result of smoking. Based on current trends, this will rise to 10 million a year by 2030.[9]

References

burgessroadsurgery.co.uk

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Smoking and Illness