Week 2: Smoking Risks

Blog Entry 2: Smoking Risks

So this week is about smoking. I will do a three part series on smoking, because it is the #1 preventable cause of death in the US. I’m just trying to give you information so that you can better choose your health. In the first two weeks, I’m going highlight the risks that one takes in lighting a cigarette. And week three will be practical steps that one could take to quit, if one so desires.

The purpose of this series is not to tell you to quit smoking. It’s to inform you of all the risks associated with smoking. I believe that we as a society know that ‘smoking is bad’ but we don’t know all the specifics. Hopefully by then end of this, you can read the facts, and as an educated individual make your rational decision based on those facts.

The health impact of tobacco use in 2008 is as follows:

1) #1 preventable cause of death in the US

a. smoking related deaths are the number one preventable cause of death. This means that if we don’t smoke we can prevent the smoking related diseases that cause death. It’s simple.

2) Responsible for 1 in 5 deaths (438,000 each year)

a. out of five people who die today, one of them died because of smoking.

3) 1/3-1/2 of smokers die of a smoking related disease

b. This means that let’s just say you have 3 friends who smoke. One of them will die of a smoking related disease.

So what are the “smoking related diseases”? I will list the ones that have strong evidence to establish causality.

“Smoking causes ________ cancer”

1) Lung

2) Laryngeal (voice box)

3) Oral cavity and pharyngeal (throat)

4) Esophageal

5) Pancreatic

6) Bladder and Kidney

7) Cervical

8) Endometrial

9) Stomach

10 Acute leukemia

some images of cancer: to make visible the invisible

Fig 1. Lung Cancer
Fig 2. Laryngeal Cancer
Fig 3. Oral cavity cancer
Fig 4. Esophageal Cancer

We all knew about lung cancer, but did we know about the rest? This is just cancer. Next week will be other diseases.

“Smoking injures almost all bodily organs, and tragically this injury often leads to incurable disease and death.” Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco 2004

Most data from a lecture at HMS and the Surgeon General’s Report:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2004/chapters.htm

Images from:

http://images.medicinenet.com/images/Lung_8_01.gif

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/2/21/190px-Esophageal_adenoca.jpg

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/headneckcancer/images/oralpic.jpg

http://www.chicagovoicecenter.com/img34.gif

Week 1: Our Behavior

Here we go now! Blog Entry Week One.

This week is about how our behavior is one of the most important factors that determines your health. Text will be minimal and I’m going to highlight only one or two main points per week. So check it.

This shows that behavioral patterns contribute 40% to premature death. This is more than genetic disposition, social circumstances, environmental exposure and health care. Thus our health depends less on our genes, than our behavior. If you have a rare genetic condition, then yes, your genes will contribute to more of your health outcome, but for most of us, our behavior is a bigger factor. Let me also point out that health care accounts for only 10% of our health outcome. That means what I can do as a doctor is only 10%, whereas what you can do is 40%. So if you think of splurging when you are young and expecting the doctor to fix all of your health problems with a pill, think again.

Of deaths caused by Behavior (not genetics, social circumstances, or environment), smoking is the leading cause, followed by obesity. So the next couple weeks will be about smoking, then obesity.

One of my patients this week with congestive heart failure, told me that he wished someone had told him these things before. So here I am trying to tell you. Education is empowerment.

That’s all folks.

Steven A. Schroeder, M.D. We Can Do Better — Improving the Health of the American People N Engl J Med 2007;357:1221-8. Copyright © 2007 Massachusetts Medical Society.

The figures were taken from this paper. (I will cite all more sources and if you want the primary source, send me an email).

Greetings!

to my lovely friends and family,

After much thought, I've decided to start blogging about what I learn in medical school. These are things that I want to share with all of you because I think we all should know, not just me as a medical student. I would tell you each individually, but this will reach more of you in less time. and feel free to recommend the site to anyone. So here's my attempt at democratizing education.

jason