A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization
Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
| Home | Search | About ASH | Why Join | Comment | Email page |
|
Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
|
Smoking Blamed for 5 Million Deaths in 2000 [11/24-4]
Excerpts from: Smoking Blamed for 5 Million Deaths in 2000
By Miranda Hitti Web MD [11/23/04]
Smoking is a global health hazard, causing nearly 5 million deaths worldwide in 2000, according to researchers.
Look past the staggering estimated death toll, and many questions arise: Were there any regional differences? What specific health problems were at work? Who was most vulnerable? And perhaps most importantly, where are the numbers headed?
Those are just a few of the questions addressed by researchers Majid Ezzati, PhD, of Harvard's School of Public Health, and Alan Lopez, PhD, of Australia's University of Queensland.
Ezzati first reported the estimated smoking death toll ) about a year ago. Since then, he and Lopez have been combing through the world's death data, searching for clues about smoking deaths from Algeria to Zimbabwe.
Some of their findings may surprise you.
For instance, heart disease — not lung cancer — was the leading cause of smoking deaths in industrialized countries. Heart disease accounted for about 43 percent of smoking-related deaths among men and women.
Lung cancer accounted for only 22 percent of smoking-related deaths among men and 19 percent among women in industrialized regions. The results appear in the December issue of the journal Tobacco Control.
| Home Web Page | Search This Site | Learn About ASH | Why Join ASH | Comment on This | Email This Page |