Testing It Up

The introduction of smoke-free laws in Olmsted County, Minnesota in 2002 has led to a decrease in the cases of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths, according to a new study conducted by the Mayo Clinic researchers.

“We now know that not only do smoke-free workplace laws help avoid having a heart attack, but they also reduce the chances of having sudden cardiac death,” lead researcher Dr. Richard Hurt, director of Mayo Clinic’s Nicotine Dependence Center, said in a news release. “Those are both very dramatic things that have a very big impact on workers as well as patrons.”

The team looked into the relationship of smoke-free workplaces and restaurants in Olmsted County and the incidence of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death before and after the passage of smoking bans. They found that 18 months before the county’s first smoke-free ordinance for restaurants went into effect in 2002, the regional incidence of heart attack was 212.3 cases per 100,000 residents. However, 18 months after the implementation of a comprehensive smoke-free law in 2007, that rate dropped by about 45 percent — 102.9 per 100,000 residents.

In addition, the incidence of sudden cardiac death fell from 152.5 to 76.6 per 100,000 residents, a 50 percent reduction, during that same period.

Dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke has been well documented in a string of past research. Apart from raising the risk of heart diseases, secondhand smoke is noted for increasing an individual’s risk to develop lung cancer, asthma, and lower respiratory tract infections. According to the American Cancer Society, secondhand smoke in the U.S. alone is responsible for an estimated 46,000 deaths (every year) from heart disease in people who are current non-smokers. Similarly, about 3,400 non-smoking adults succumb to lung cancer because of secondhand smoke.

A study co-authored by Theodore C. Friedman, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles, found that passive smoking increases risk for obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Based on the results of the study, adults who are not smokers but are exposed to second hand smoke were more at risk for obesity and Type 2 diabetes, when compared against non-smokers who have no environmental exposure to secondhand smoke.

The study involved the use of serum cotinine levels in order to verify passive smoking. This is something that has not been done by other studies that also suggested a link between Type 2 diabetes and passive smoking, according to Dr. Friedman. Serum cotinine measures a person’s exposure to tobacco smoke.

Dr. Friedman and his colleagues examined data from more than 6,300 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001 to 2006. Current smokers were defined by the researchers as those who admit to smoking cigarettes and had a measured serum cotinine level greater than 3 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). Non-smokers, on the other hand, were defined as those who do not admit to smoking cigarettes and whose serum cotinine levels were below 0.05 ng/mL.

Those who do not admit to smoking but whose serum cotinine levels were above 0.05 ng/mL were called passive smokers.

The study showed that passive smokers had a higher measure of insulin resistance, higher levels of fasting blood glucose or blood sugar, higher rate of Type 2 diabetes, and a higher body mass index (BMI).

Despite the fact that the rate of exposure to secondhand smoke in cars showed a decline between 2000 and 2009, there are still one too many high school and middle school students who ride in cars while other passengers are smoking.

A research effort from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that 1 in 5 high school and middle school students are exposed to secondhand smoke in vehicles. This type of secondhand smoke has been associated with breathing problems and allergy symptoms, and the report called for more restrictions in order to prevent this exposure.

Anti-smoking advocates have been especially keen on exposure to secondhand smoke in cars, as there is research that showed that vehicles are potentially more dangerous than smoke-filled bars and other areas which are not as confined.

The researchers performed an analysis of data from national surveys conducted at public and private high schools and middle schools. The survey asked students about how often they rode in vehicles with someone else smoking in them within the past week, among other things.

According to the CDC, no level of exposure to secondhand smoke can be considered risk-free. CDC researcher Brian King, lead author of the study, shared that despite the decline in smoking rates in cars between 2000 and 2009, the number of kids who are exposed to secondhand smoke in vehicles is still “problematic.” He shared further: “The car is the only source of exposure for some of these children, so if you can reduce that exposure, it’s definitely advantageous for health.”

Smokers in New York, beware. Public outdoor spaces in New York – including parks, beaches, and pedestrian plazas – will implement a no-smoking rule starting Monday.

The new law is an effort at reducing, or eliminating, exposure to second hand smoke, according to a feature on CBS News. In addition, New York City health officials hope that the law would dissuade the younger generation from lighting up.

The law was pushed by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is a former smoker himself.

New York City is not the only one implementing smoking bans in outdoor places, although these cities definitely do not comprise the majority; only less than 3 percent of cities have outdoor smoking bans. There are, however, 35 states that implement indoor smoking bans.

New York Health Screening

A study conducted by the World Health Organization lends credence to the fact that smoking does not just impact the smoker; it affects the other people around him or her as well.

Reuters reported that a study by researchers from the WHO revealed that one in a hundred deaths around the world can be attributed to passive smoking. The study is the first of its kind, and assessed the global impact of second hand smoke.

The WHO also revealed that children are the ones who are most exposed to second-hand smoke among all the age groups. This exposure, according to the study, results in 165,000 deaths a year among children. The study, led by Annette Pruss-Ustun of the WHO Geneva, said in part that “two-thirds of these deaths occur in Africa and south Asia.”

Children are most likely exposed to second-hand smoke at home, and the mortality rates of children in these regions may be the result of the “deadly combination” of infectious diseases and tobacco. The study indicated further that 40 percent of children, 33 percent of whom were of non-smoking men, and 35 percent were of non-smoking women, were exposed to secondhand smoke in 2004.

Deaths among children were said to have been more prevalent in poor and middle-income countries. The same did not hold true for adults, however, as deaths among that age group were spread at all income levels.

Researchers from the WHO studied data from 192 countries, starting from the year 2004. They employed mathematical modeling in estimating the deaths.

Smoking cigarettes and using tobacco can literally kill you because the chemicals it contains can literally burn your lungs away, among other things. That is why the most striking and scariest advertisements promoting quitting smoking cigarettes and tobacco focus on death.

These advertisement materials usually contain few textual messages and are instead very visual in nature. They typically contain skulls and crossbones because these are the most common images associated with death and danger. There are many messages conveyed with these images, such as smoking is suicide, cigarettes are killers in packs and you can commit murder with smoking.

Among the strongest images in these advertisements are those that promote quitting smoking because of the inherent dangers of secondhand smoke. The proponents of these campaigns believe that while a smoker may ignore the dangers of smoking to his or her own body, the smoker will not be able to do the same when it comes to the health of his or her loved ones.

For full version of this article, please visit “Scariest Quit Smoking/Tobacco Signs and Promotional Materials“.