Tobacco use drives students to poor academic performance, leads them to other drugs: Study

A study that surveyed more than 7,500 high school and higher secondary school students in Ernakulam district has found that tobacco users are prone to poorer academic performance. It also proves that tobacco is a gateway drug, one that leads users to other potent drugs.

A high 76.3 per cent of lifelong tobacco users – those who had smoked or used smokeless tobacco throughout their life – had failed in a subject compared to 57 per cent of non-users. Further, 24.7 per cent of such users had failed a year of studies as against 9.1 per cent non-users.

The study also found that tobacco users had significantly higher usage rates of alcohol and illicit drugs. Alcohol use among lifelong tobacco users was found to be 67.8 per cent as compared to 11 per cent in non-users. In the case of illicit drugs, the rates of use were 33 per cent versus 6.1 per cent in tobacco users and non-users respectively.

These findings recently published in the prestigious Indian Journal of Medical Research are part findings of the larger study looking at psychological issues among adolescent school students, done by the Bengaluru-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). The National Health Mission (Kerala) and the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Kerala also associated with the study.

In what could be good news to enforcement officials, the study reports decreasing trend of tobacco use among adolescent high school students compared to previous studies done among students in South India, and in Kannur district. In the survey, 6.9 per cent students reported having used tobacco in any form, with the proportion of males using tobacco being 12.5 per cent and females 1.2 per cent.

Most users still initiated early with the mean age of initiation among users being 14 years. Further, a majority of users (67 per cent) were using it hazardously in their school years signifying that they had a very high risk of progression to addiction.

Lead author Dr T.S. Jaisoorya said, “We took up the study to evaluate psychological issues among school going adolescents who often have multiple vulnerabilities. The prevalence of tobacco use and its negative outcomes among adolescents suggests that proactive intervention from teachers and parents is needed to check tobacco use among students. Measures need to be strengthened and continued to improve awareness of the wide variety of tobacco related harm and also ensure that ban of tobacco supply is strictly enforced near our educational institutions.”

“Policymakers can longer afford to see tobacco use as a problem of the past. It is as much a public health menace as alcohol and dangerous drug abuse. Any further delay in addressing the tobacco problem among the youth is opening up Kerala to a painful burden of a lifetime of lifestyle diseases,” commented Dr K.R. Thankappan, Emeritus Professor, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies of the Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum.

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Leh declared tobacco-free

The J&K Government has achieved a major success against tobacco as Leh district in the Ladakh region has been declared a tobacco-free zone.

To make Kashmir a smoke-free region, the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK) under the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) started an anti-tobacco campaign in Leh early this year.

“Due to mass awareness and meetings with civil society members, religious and women groups, we have been successful in making Leh a tobacco-free zone,” Dr Rehana Kousar, in-charge, NTCP, Kashmir, told The Tribune.

However, Kousar said a major success was achieved by the involvement of women in the anti-tobacco campaign. “The Women’s Alliance is a strong lobby for social change in Leh and its members made the difference in making the region free of tobacco,” she said.

The department conducted over 30 awareness camps in schools to ensure the campaign had a long-term impact on Leh society, she said, adding vendors were sanitised to stop the sale of tobacco, particularly to minors and around schools.

Official data revealed that overall tobacco use in J&K was among 26.6 per cent of the population. Of the overall prevalence, she said at least 12 per cent use cigarettes and 3.8 per cent use bidis. Out of the total users, 41.6 per cent are men and 10.3 per cent women. The average age at daily initiation of tobacco use is 17.3 years in adults.

The exposure to second hand smoke (SHS) — the smoke inhaled involuntarily from tobacco being smoked by others — was highest at 68 per cent in J&K, she said.

Health officials warned that eight lakh people affected directly or indirectly by smoking would die an untimely death due to serious illnesses, like heart attack and cancer.

Officials said the smokers in J&K spend Rs 514 on cigarettes per month against the rest of India average of Rs 399.

Looking at the success in Leh, the Health Department is all set to replicate the campaign in other districts to get rid of tobacco.

DHSK Director Dr Saleem-ur Rehman said the anti-tobacco campaign would cover other areas for which public support was needed. “It is not only assignment and motivation of enforcement agencies, but ensuring public awareness and political will to ensure tobacco-free Kashmir,” Rehman said.

Source: TribuneIndia

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Increase in cigarette prices may reduce smoking in elderly

Raising cigarette prices by a dollar can increase the possibility of older people quitting smoking by 20 per cent, researchers say.

“Older smokers have been smoking for a long time and tend to have lower rates of smoking cessation compared to younger populations, suggesting deeply entrenched behaviour that is difficult to change,” said lead author Stephanie Mayne, a doctoral student at the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois.

“Our finding that increase in cigarette prices were associated with quitting smoking in the older population suggests cigarette taxes may be a particularly effective lever for behaviour change,” Mayne added.

The researchers looked at included smokers ranging in age from 44 to 84 and stretched across six different places. In addition to finding that current smokers were 20 per cent more likely to quit smoking when pack prices went up by a dollar, researchers’ team showed there was a three per cent overall reduction in smoking risk. However, when the data was narrowed to heavy smokers, there was a seven per cent reduction in risk.

When prices increased by a dollar, heavy smokers also showed a 35 per cent reduction in the average number of cigarettes they smoked per day, compared to 19 per cent less in the overall smoking population.

“Since heavy smokers smoke more cigarettes per day initially, they may feel the impact of a price increase to a greater degree and be more likely to cut back on the number of cigarettes they smoke on a daily basis,” Mayne explained.

According to the senior author on the study, the local relationship between smoking habits and cigarette prices is an understudied but important area to look at. “Results on this topic primarily have come from population surveillance. But we had neighborhood tobacco price data and could link that to a cohort of individuals who were followed for about 10 years,” said Amy Auchincloss, PhD, Associate Professor, Dornsife School of Public Health.

Based on results from this study published in the journal Epidemiology, raising cigarette prices appears to be a better strategy for encouraging smoking cessation across all ages.

Source: IndianExpress

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Diabetes and smoking

Smoking is now proven to be an independent risk factor for diabetes, and amongst diabetics it increases the risk of complications. Smokers are 30% more prone to develop type 2 diabetes than non-smokers. People with diabetes already have a list of complications such as heart disease, stroke, circulation problems, kidney disease, retinopathy and peripheral neuropathy, and smoking adds to the risk of developing all of these things. Together with genetics and obesity, smoking is also proven as a risk factor for insulin resistance that often leads to diabetes.

Smoking and diabetes both increase the risk of heart disease and when combined, they significantly elevate the chances of suffering a heart related condition such as a heart attack or stroke. High levels of blood glucose and smoking can cause damage to walls of the arteries in such a manner that makes it easier to build-up fatty deposits. As a result, the blood vessels become narrow and make blood circulation difficult. When this happens to the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood and therefore oxygen) a heart attack can occur. Similarly, when brain does not get enough blood, stroke can occur. Hence, if you smoke when you have diabetes, you are putting yourself at a much greater risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

According to a very recent study, people with diabetes who smoke, are twice-prone to immature death than non-smokers. Results showed that diabetes doubles the risk for all-cause mortality and non-lung cancer mortality among heavy smokers. Women with diabetes are more prone to lung cancer and have an 80% increased risk of dying from lung cancer compared to those without diabetes. The more cigarettes you smoke, the higher your risk for type 2 diabetes and complications.

If you are a smoker with diabetes, quitting smoking will benefit your health right away. No matter what type of diabetes you have, smoking makes your diabetes harder to control. People with diabetes who quit smoking have better control of their blood sugar levels.

Ref:

1. http://www.diabetes.co.iik/diabetes-and-smokinR.html

2. http://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2016/nov/people-with-diabetes-who-           smoke-increase-risk-of-early-death-study-reports-95373621.html

3. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/diseases/diabetes.html

The article has been contributed by:

Dr. N. Selvaraj, M.D. (Gen. Med.), D. Diab., Consultant Physician and Diabetologist, Senthil Multi Speciality Hospital, Erode. E-mail: drnselvaraj@yahoo.com

Source: Times of India

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Hypersensitive behaviour, poor mental health and $16 billion – the price India pays for smoking

If you have been thinking about looking for reasons to quit smoking, here is another one – smokers display 200 per cent more hypersensitive behaviour as compared to non-smokers.

So what this means in simple terms is that not only on the physical, but also mental health wise, smokers display poor health.

Take the case of mental stress, as compared to non-smokers; smokers have 178 per cent more chances of getting affected with mental stress. 

On many other counts including sleep, motivation, eating habits, temper control, etc., the smokers fare worse as compared to the non-smokers.

Another fact that could change the way we think about smokers is that how difficult it is to quit smoking. The smokers that were the subject of the study agreed that they knew smoking had serious adverse health impacts but still 74 per cent of them felt that it was difficult to quit smoking.

The results were published in a study titled 'Choose Life Study'. It was conducted by leading pulmonologists & chest physicians from three cities of India namely Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.

The study has also shown that those who smoke have higher levels of high blood pressure and carbon monoxide (CO) as compared to non-smokers. High blood pressure and elevated CO levels can have a serious impact on physical and mental health.

In India, as per statistics, tobacco kills more than 900,000 people every year & India spends about $16 billion annually to treat tobacco related diseases.

But as per experts, it is easier to quit smoking that it seems but the catch lies in the fact that tobacco companies make the smokers 'believe' that it is hard to quit smoking. And when that thought is implanted in their minds, quitting smoking becomes difficult than it actually is.

Source: Merinews

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It’s possible to quit tobacco

Ex-tobacco addicts gather to drive home the message

They gathered for conveying a message that it is possible for people to be free from addiction to tobacco if they are mentally prepared to say goodbye to a habit which they thought they could never do.

Over 200 people who have come out of their addiction to tobacco who participated in a gathering of ex-tobacco addicts gathered in an auditorium at Thalassery here on Wednesday as part of a anti-tobacco campaign being launched by the Community Oncology Department of the Malabar Cancer Centre (MCC) at Thalassery.

Many of them shared their stories of how they became addicts, what health problems they experienced, and who saved them from the addiction. The initiative of the MCC was named ‘Munnettam’, which is an extension of the Quit Tobacco Clinic that the Oncology Department conducts every Wednesday.

“The purpose of such gatherings is to send across a message that tobacco addiction can be brought to an end,” said Phinse M. Philip, lecturer at the department, who was among those who initiated the drive. There is a scientific way to help a tobacco addict quit the addiction, he said.

The treatment being offered to the addicts as part of the clinic includes nicotine replacement therapy and behaviour modification. According to those involved in the campaign, older among the addicts are smokers while most of the younger addicts are found to be using other tobacco products, especially chewing tobacco.

Chance meeting

“There was hardly any type of tobacco products that I was not addicted to over the past few decades,” said an ex-addict, hailing from Peravur here. It was his chance meeting with Dr. Philips that helped him quit the addiction, said the man who requested anonymity. He continued the habit of chain-smoking even after he developed health issues, he said, adding that he had stopped the habit for the past six years.

Richard Hay, MP, inaugurated the gathering. MCC Director Satheesh Balasubramanian, Mahe MLA V. Ramachandran, and Deputy Superintendent of Police Prince Abraham were among those present at the function.

Source: The Hindu

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Beware the phantom

E-cigarettes aren’t as harmless as they sound; in fact, vaping may lead to a smoking habit, especially among kids, say experts

When Suresh Sharma (name changed to protect privacy) went for a school trip to the hills, he bought an e-cigarette from a local store. It was both amusing and daring for the kids in his Class IX batch. Luckily for him, there were some kids on the excursion who weren’t afraid of being ‘uncool’, who pointed out that these too had nicotine and could land them in big trouble

E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that deliver nicotine, flavour and other chemical additives by turning them into an aerosol inhaled by the user. Introduced in 2003, in China, to wean smokers off the habit, “scientists mostly from developing nations, like India, are worried that it may undo the decades of work tobacco regulation has done,” explains Dr Manu Raj Mathur, senior research scientist and associate professor, Public Health Foundation of India, Gurugram. Experts at home cite the reasons for concern and for the Central Government’s likely ban on the sale of e-cigarettes.

It can be a gateway drug

There’s danger that it may lead non-smokers and kids to use tobacco, current smokers to be dual users and former smokers to relapse,” says Dr Mathur. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable: studies show that youth are more susceptible to nicotine addiction and early exposure is linked with severity of nicotine dependency.

Descriptions on e-liquids (the fluid for refill) sound suspiciously like they’re luring young users, with flavours like gummy bears, vanilla, liquorice, coffee. “…Crisp apples and tangy cranberries… create a bittersweet symphony of flavourful vapour clouds,” says one. Nicotine, present in varying levels and strengths in e-cigarettes, is highly addictive. In fact, the US Surgeon-General in 2010 warned that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin. (This explains why smokers find it so hard to quit despite understanding the hazards.)

It is unregulated

These don’t contain tobacco, so they do not fall within the purview of COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) which mandates health warnings on packaging, prohibits advertisement and regulates the production, supply and sale of tobacco products in India. E-cigarettes are sold freely. Plus, they are being increasingly imported. There are no clear public health warnings related to nicotine on the product. Rather, there’s an overwhelming emphasis on ‘satisfaction’, minus the harmful effects of smoke, tar and ash from conventional cigarettes. There’s no rule pertaining to vaping in public spaces, which can potentially ‘re-normalise’ smoking.

It poses health risks

“Nicotine is not just addictive; it adversely affects your heart, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, immune system and reproductive health,” says Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, Professor and Head and Neck cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. It is particularly bad for the heart. Nicotine raises blood pressure, causing your arteries to narrow, which can, over time, lead to cardiovascular disease. And we haven’t spoken about its carcinogenic effects yet: “It affects cell proliferation, oxidative stress, DNA mutations, tumour proliferation and even causes resistance to chemo and radio therapeutic agents,” he says.

“Besides, e-cigarettes may pose threat of nicotine poisoning — especially from ingesting the liquid,” adds Dr Chaturvedi. They also expose the user to several other toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, such as carbonyl compounds and volatile organic compounds, the effects of which are still being researched. The bottomline: avoid them completely.

More importantly, make your children aware of their dangers.

Source: The Hindu

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