Smoking will kill 100 million men in China - one in three under 30 today - when they reach mean age or older, according to two articles published in tomorrow British Medical Journal . "This alarming study is a landmark in research on public health," said Jeffrey Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "These data suggest the coming of a devastating epidemic in China in the 21st century."
The results are the fruit of a long-term collaboration between Chinese academies of Preventive Medicine and Medical Sciences in Beijing, Oxford University, and Cornell University. After examining the smoking habits of 1.25 million men in several Chinese cities and rural areas, the researchers found that smoking already causes about 750,000 deaths per year. The team interviewed the families of all who died in a sample of Chinese provinces to determine factors, including smoking, which may have contributed to death. This mortality rate is likely to increase 3 million by the time the young smokers reach middle age and older, the researchers estimate.
The health risks of smoking are not widely known among the Chinese population, which consumes a third of current global cigarette production. "A national survey in 1996 showed that two thirds believe smoking does little or no harm," said epidemiologist Richard Peto of Oxford University. Only 4% of adults know that smoking can cause heart disease he noted, and only 40% realize that cancer smoking lung risks.
tobacco-related deaths will likely keep mounting, the researchers say. at the turn of the century, cigarettes kill April 1 million annual people in the world. half in rich countries and half in developing countries if current smoking trends continue, the researchers predict that rates will rise to 10 million deaths per year in 2030, with 70% . poor countries many areas could soon get a better handle on this gloomy prospect: study team smoking behavior of young people and the cause of death of the elderly are being adopted by countries Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America to study their own emerging epidemics tobacco.
0 Komentar