Smoking is the leading cause of preventable lung cancer related death worldwide. It is the biggest lung cancer risk factor and accounts for more than two-thirds of the 1.8 million deaths from lung cancer each year.
Brandariz’s first-of-its-kind simulation study has been published in The Lancet Public Health and it suggests that by creating a tobacco-free generation, we could prevent 40% of lung cancer deaths which are expected to occur in the group of people born between 2006 and 2010 in 185 countries by 2095. This recent global study suggests that by reducing smoking rates to 5% by 2050, it could increase life expectancy of men by a year and 0.2 years of that of women.
The findings of this study indicate that creating a tobacco-free generation could reduce the impact of smoking on lung cancer deaths in future generations.
Our modelling highlights how much there is to gain for governments considering the implementation of ambitious plans towards creating a tobacco-free generation,” said Dr Julia Rey Brandariz, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. “Not only could this save huge numbers of lives, it could massively reduce the strain on health systems of treating, and caring for people in ill health as a result of smoking,” Brandariz added.
Currently, no country has laws for making it illegal to sell tobacco to young people. Various recent studies have analyzed the impact of ban on sale of tobacco products among specific age groups. This new study is the first one to evaluate the effect that tobacco-free generations would have on future lung cancer related deaths. This could prevent 40.2% of total lung cancer deaths expected to occur by 2095. Also, half of the expected lung cancer deaths among could be prevented and close to one-third of expected deaths in women. Among men, the greatest number of potential lung cancer deaths avoided would be in upper or middle income countries.
The information shared in this blog is for educational purposes only.
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