Tobacco & Marijuana
Store ads spur teens to smoke, U.S. study finds
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The more cigarette marketing teens are exposed to in retail stores, the more likely they are to smoke, researchers reported on Monday in a U.S. study they said supports even tighter restrictions on tobacco ads.
Point-of-sale advertising can encourage teens to try smoking, the team reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Heart disease risk should be assessed early
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Young adults who have several risk factors for heart disease may start to show problems in their arteries by the time they’re in their 40s, a new study shows.
Researchers found that among more than 3,000 African American and white men and women, those with more heart disease risk factors in their 20s were two to three times more likely to have calcium build-up in their arteries 15 years later.
Social workers can help older smokers
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Getting older smokers to quit can be a tough order, but enlisting social workers in the battle could help, a new study suggests.
Even in old age, quitting smoking can have health benefits, but elderly smokers are less likely to receive smoking cessation counseling than their younger counterparts. One of the obstacles is simply reaching older adults who smoke, according to the authors of the new study.
Smoking affects heart of even the young and fit
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Young adult smokers may seem healthy, but smoking is taking its toll on their heart, a research team in Poland reports. Chronic smoking appears to impair the ability of the heart to relax between beats, resulting in decreased pumping capacity.
There is little information regarding the effects of smoking on cardiac function in young adults, Dr. Barbara Lichodziejewska and associates at Warsaw Medical University note in their article in the medical journal Chest.
Prenatal smoke exposure tied to attention problems
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Teens whose mothers smoked while pregnant with them and are themselves smokers have a harder time paying attention and focusing than their non-smoking peers who were not exposed to smoke in the womb, a new study shows.
The researchers also found gender differences in the effect of nicotine exposure, with exposed girls showing both visual and auditory attention deficits, while the boys only had difficulties in listening.
Cannabis is wrecking lives, says public school head
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A leading public school head yesterday warned that the casual acceptance of cannabis would result in an epidemic of children having problems at school. Anthony Seldon, head of Wellington College, said the drug was “wrecking lives”.
The decision to reclassify cannabis from a class B to a class C drug was a mistake and should be reviewed, Dr Seldon, author of a biography of Tony Blair, said. He added: “The reclassification was unhelpful because it sent the signal that it is OK.”
Stroke a risk for cocaine, amphetamine users
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Young people who abuse cocaine and amphetamines are at heightened risk for suffering a stroke, a study published Monday confirms.
Cocaine, amphetamines, and other stimulants may boost the risk of stroke by raising blood pressure or by triggering spasms in blood vessel walls.
Cannabis debate: ‘I let my son have skunk. It ruined his life’
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Anne Waterman has followed the debate about the health hazards of cannabis with close interest. Academics and doctors say potent skunk is the cause of soaring psychiatric problems in the young; pro-drug campaigners sniff anti-cannabis conspiracies and claim there is no proof of a link.
Two weeks after The Independent on Sunday reversed its landmark campaign for the decriminalisation of cannabis, saying new evidence meant it could no longer be regarded as a “safe” drug, Mrs Waterman has watched both sides in a highly charged debate. And she has wondered about the sense of it all.
Smokers Clock Up Almost 8 Additional Days of Sick Leave Every Year
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Smokers take an average of almost eight days more of sick leave every year than their non-smoking colleagues, suggested research published in Tobacco Control .
The research team analysed nationally representative registry data on sickness absence among more than 14,000 workers in Sweden between 1988 and 1991.
Smoking boosts risk of tuberculosis
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Cigarette smoking appears to be a risk factor for tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease, according to findings from a systematic review of the literature and pooled analysis of studies.
Dr. Kirk R. Smith, of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues searched eight databases for relevant articles on the topic and identified 24 that met their inclusion criteria.
Neck Pain Treatment Safer Without Significant Risk of Paralysis
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In the largest series of patients to date, recent research shows that the translaminar approach to cervical spinal steroid injections can reduce neck pain in eighty-three percent of those treated. In addition to being an effective treatment, the translaminar approach was found to be safer than an alternative method or surgery, as no major complications were observed. In the alternative approach, steroids are injected in close proximity to nerve bundles and small blood vessels in the spine, which can result in nerve damage or paralysis. The translaminar technique in the study avoids this risk by injecting the steroids into the epidural space in the neck, allowing the drug to spread up and down the spine to reduce the inflammation and subsequently reduce pain. This safer translaminar approach is an outpatient treatment, requiring only a small amount of local anesthesia. Although the injection does not treat the underlying cause of the pain, such as arthritis or herniated disc, it does treat the immediate pain flare-up, allowing patients to get back to their normal routines. The research was presented today at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting in Seattle.
Smoking changes brain the same way as drugs do
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Smoking causes long-lasting changes in the brain similar to changes seen in animals when they are given cocaine, heroin and other addictive drugs, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
A study of the brain tissue of smokers and nonsmokers who died showed that smokers had these changes, even if they had quit years before, the team at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported.
Intensive smoking cessation helps heart patients
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Even smokers who’ve already suffered serious heart problems can improve their outlook by quitting, researchers reported Monday.
In a study of more than 200 smokers hospitalized for heart problems, investigators found that intensive smoking-cessation therapy not only helped patients kick the habit, but also lowered their risk of dying over the next 2 years.
Secondhand smoke raises risk of heart disease
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Exposure to secondhand smoke greatly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, UK investigators report in the journal Circulation.
Dr. Andrea Venn and Dr. John Britton, both from the University of Nottingham, analyzed data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted between 1988 and 1994. Exposure to smoke was estimated based on blood levels of cotinine, a biological marker for nicotine. The researchers used blood levels of a clotting protein called fibrinogen and homocysteine, an amino acid, as a rough indicator of the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Workplace secondhand smoke ups cancer risk: study
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High levels of secondhand smoke on the job can double nonsmokers’ risk of developing lung cancer, and those who inhale it at work long-term face a 50 percent higher risk, researchers said on Wednesday.
Scientists led by epidemiologist Leslie Stayner of the University of Illinois at Chicago combined the results of 22 studies on secondhand smoke conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Japan and China.
