Tobacco & Marijuana
Passive smoke in workplace increases lung cancer risk
|
|
An analysis of nearly two dozen studies confirms the association between passive smoke in the workplace and an increased risk of lung cancer, according to a report in the American Journal of Public Health.
The research, led by University of Illinois at Chicago epidemiologist Leslie Stayner, is posted online and will appear in the March print issue of the journal.
Quitting Smoking May Be Harder If Mom Smoked During Pregnancy
|
|
Quitting smoking may be more difficult for individuals whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, according to animal research conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers.
Prenatal exposure to nicotine is known to alter areas of the brain critical to learning, memory and reward. Scientists at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research have discovered that these alterations may program the brain for relapse to nicotine addiction. Rodents exposed to nicotine before birth self administer more of the drug after periods of abstinence than those that had not been exposed.
Even with lung cancer, quitting cigarettes helps
|
|
Once people have been diagnosed with lung cancer they might think it pointless to stop smoking, but in fact it’s not too late to benefit from quitting, a new study shows.
Researchers found that among more than 200 lung cancer patients at their center, those who quit smoking after the diagnosis became less severely impaired by the disease than those who kept up the habit.
Specifically, their “performance status”—a measure of patients’ ability to care for themselves and function in daily life—was generally higher, according to findings published in the medical journal Chest.
Exercise may reduce smokers’ lung cancer risk
|
|
Women who smoke may be able to reduce their lung cancer risk with exercise, a new study shows. But the investigators caution that any relative benefit is dwarfed by the benefits gained from kicking the habit.
In the study, women who reported high levels of physical activity were 23 percent less likely to develop lung cancer than those who were the least active, report Dr. Kathryn H. Schmitz of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and colleagues. And among women who smoked, greater activity was tied to a 28 percent lower lung cancer risk, while women who were ex-smokers showed a 37 percent lower risk with more activity.
Nevertheless, smokers remained at much higher risk of lung cancer than those who had never smoked, or those who had quit, Schmitz and her team note. “Quitting smoking is the single most important action a smoker can take to reduce risk of lung cancer,” they note.
Alcohol in moderation may extend life
|
|
Moderate drinking may lengthen your life, while too much may shorten it, researchers from Italy report. Their conclusion is based on pooled data from 34 large studies involving more than one million people and 94,000 deaths.
According to the data, drinking a moderate amount of alcohol—up to four drinks per day in men and two drinks per day in women—reduces the risk of death from any cause by roughly 18 percent, the team reports in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Successful Lung Cancer Surgery Not Enough to Break Nicotine Dependence in Many Smokers
|
|
A new study has found that close to half of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer picked up a cigarette again within 12 months of their potentially curative operation, and more than one-third were smoking at the one year mark. Sixty percent of patients who started smoking again did so within two months of surgery.
The study, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and published in the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, is the first to look at smoking relapse among people who were “forced” to quit due to impending surgery.
Chronic use of nicotine can reinforce the rewarding effects of alcohol
|
|
When sober alcoholics are tempted to fall off the wagon, the same receptor is stimulated as is activated by nicotine in their brain.
This has been demonstrated in a doctoral dissertation at the Sahgrenska Academy at Go"teborg University in Sweden. The discovery may lead to new treatment for alcohol abuse.
Halving Daily Cigarette Quota Has No Health Benefit
|
|
Halving the number of cigarettes smoked every day in the belief that it will stave off an early death makes no difference, suggests research in Tobacco Control.
Although reducing consumption may have a place as a temporary measure in smoking cessation, this study proves quite clearly that the only safe way out of the risk caused by smoking is to quit, say the authors.
Americans say smokers should pay more for health cover
|
|
According to a survey in the United States most people believe the health insurance system is in dire need of a fix; it is estimated that as many as 46.6 million Americans are uninsured.
The poll of around 1,500 people has found that about 60 percent are in favour of higher premiums for smokers and 30 percent believe the obese should also pay more.
Combo of exercise and nicotine therapy ensures smokers quit
|
|
Researchers in Austria have found a way for people to quit smoking.
They say using a combination of either nicotine gum or transdermal patches and exercise makes it more likely that smokers will quit.
The combo they say offers a better chance of smokers kicking the habit and even those who failed to quit completely managed to cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoked.
Smoking Cessation Therapy May be Harmful for ICU Patients
|
|
A common smoking cessation therapy used to help reduce adverse events associated with nicotine withdrawal may actually increase the risk of death for smokers admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). In a new study presented at CHEST 2006, the 72nd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), researchers found that smokers admitted to the ICU who received nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) during their stay had a higher risk of death than smokers who did not receive NRT.
“In some critically ill patients, the development of nicotine withdrawal symptoms can worsen their prognosis. As a result, NRT is given to active smokers in the ICU to prevent nicotine withdrawal symptoms,” said lead researcher Amy Lee, MD, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN. “The hemodynamic effects of nicotine may lead to increased heart rate, systemic arterial blood pressure, and constriction of the coronary arteries. Although these potential adverse effects of NRT have not been shown to worsen the prognosis of healthy volunteers and patients with stable coronary artery disease, they may be detrimental in critically ill patients.”
Anti-smoking messages to appear on some DVDs
|
|
Film industry veterans Bob and Harvey Weinstein will put anti-smoking video messages on DVDs of movies in which people smoke—a move sought by U.S. states to combat teen smoking.
“These messages will fight false film images of healthy and hip smokers with the real hard truth of addiction and disease,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the agreement.
Forty-one U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories, last month sent free anti-smoking ads to the Weinstein Co. and 12 other movie studios in hopes of persuading them to include the messages.
Nicotine slows healing of rotator cuff repair
|
|
Smokers may have a tougher time recovering from tendon injuries, such as rotator cuff tears and Achilles tendon ruptures, a new study in rats suggests.
Based on the observed effects of nicotine on tendon healing in rats, the study’s authors recommend that people who are about to undergo rotator cuff repair should avoid tobacco products entirely.
While cigarette smoking is known to hamper the healing of bones and skin, the current investigation is the first to show it can slow tendon healing as well, Dr. Leesa Galatz of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, told Reuters Health in an interview.
Drug therapy for heroin addicts helps women quit smoking
|
|
New research is suggesting that women trying to quit smoking can be helped by taking medication approved for the treatment of alcohol and heroin dependence.
The medication naltrexone, when used in conjunction with nicotine patches and behavioral support, over a a two-month period, improved by almost 50 percent women’s ability to abstain from smoking for the duration of the program, compared to the same program minus naltrexone.
The researchers say that women having trouble quitting smoking may be helped in the short-term by taking the opiate blocker along with standard treatments and counseling.
Menthol cigarettes harder to quit?
|
|
Menthol cigarettes don’t seem to be a greater health hazard than regular versions, but they may be tougher to quit, a study suggests.
In the U.S., black smokers are much more likely than whites to favor cigarettes with added menthol, a cool mint-flavored compound. Researchers have speculated that if menthol cigarettes are more harmful to the heart and lungs than regular cigarettes are, that might help explain the disproportionately high rates of smoking-related disease among African Americans.
The new study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found no such evidence. It did, however, find indications that menthol cigarettes are harder to quit.
