10 Lakh deaths annually by 2010 due to smoking, says study

NI Wire

New Delhi

Thu, 14 Feb 2008: 

A study led by New England Journal of Medicine revealed that smoking claims 900,000 deaths a year in India, and by 2010 smoking will kill 10 Lakh people in the country annually.

The research was done independently by Canada based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) focusing mainly on the effects of smokg on Indians.

The study was a collaborated effort of scientist from UK, US and India and was published on February 13 of the journal. Dr Prabhat Jha from St Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto who authored the research opined, “More than half the people killed due to smoking are from rural backgrounds. This is because they don’t understand the labels printed on the back of cigarettes. Pictorial displays are more effective than written.”

The study which ran for three years with a collection of data from 1.1 million homes across the country compared the prevalence of smoking among 33,000 deceased women and 41,000 deceased men with the prevalence of smoking among 35,000 living women and 43,000 living men.

It was found that 80 % of people smoked bidis than cigarettes. Significantly the difference of the two types of smokers was not much.

Dr. Jha said, “We were shocked as we found that even though Indians started smoking at a much later age, the effects were equally disastrous,” while observing the pattern of smoking in Europe and India.

The result said that 61% of men smokers will die at age 30-69 as compared to 41% non smokers. While 62% women smoker will die at age 30-69 as compared to 38% non smokers.

That is if the figure is rounded 7 Lakh people will die annually including 6 Lakh men and 1 Lakh women. The data also suggested a surmounting figure of over 50% of tobacco deaths in illiterate men or women with 80% of them residing in rural India.

One of the most exhaustive studies in India breaks the myth of a popular belief that cancer is the main cause of smoking deaths with 32% but rather it is due to tuberculosis which accounted for 38% of deaths.

Dr Jha informed, “Through this study, we found that smoking has been a very democratic killer. Indians from all across the country have perished due to smoking. India is in the midst of a catastrophic epidemic of smoking deaths.”

“Even modest smoking increases risk of mortality tremendously. By 2010, one in every 10 deaths in India will be due to smoking. While smoking related heart attacks was the main killer among urban Indians, TB was most prevalent among smokers in rural India,” Jha added amidst concerns.

Union health minister A Ramadoss said, “Demographically, India, home to 60 crore young people below the age of 30, is the youngest nation in the world. They are our national assets and they must be protected against tobacco. We are strengthening our Tobacco Regulatory Authority to enforce strict anti-tobacco laws.”

This comprehensive study is an eye opener and must accelerate various anti smoking laws to save millions succumbing to the smoke of death.