600,000 deaths per year caused by passive smoking
Around one in 100 deaths worldwide each year is due to passive smoking, which causes more than 600,000 people to die each year worldwide. Some 165 000 of these deaths are among children. These are the conclusions of an article published in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, written by Dr Annette Prüss-Ustün, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues. The study is the first to assess the global impact of second-hand smoke.
In order to attain consistency for comparison, the authors used data from 2004 for their analysis, since this was the last year to have comprehensive data across the 192 countries studied. They estimated both deaths and years lost of life in good health (DALYs).
Worldwide, 40% of children, 33% of male non-smokers, and 35% of female non-smokers were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2004. This exposure was estimated to have caused 379 000 deaths from ischaemic heart disease, 165 000 from lower respiratory infections, 36 900 from asthma, and 21 400 from lung cancer. 603 000 deaths were attributable to second-hand smoke in 2004, which was about 1.0% of worldwide mortality. 47% of deaths from second-hand smoke occurred in women, 28% in children, and 26% in men.
Read the whole article at ecancermedicalscience
Reference
- Öberg, M., Jaakkola, M.S., Woodward, A., Peruga, A., Prüss-Ustün, A. (2010). Worldwide burden of disease from exposure to second-hand smoke: a retrospective analysis of data from 192 countries The Lancet DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61388-8
Keywords: passive smoking, second-hand smoke, premature deaths
26. 11. 2010 ecancermedicalscience
