1. Home
  2. India
  3. 138 million Indian smokers do not know tobacco causes stroke

138 million Indian smokers do not know tobacco causes stroke

April 20, 2012

Smoke_Stroke

New Delhi, April 20: Nearly 138 million Indian smokers do not know that smoking tobacco causes stroke.

As many as 92 million on the other hand aren't aware that tobacco causes heart disease.

According to a report released on Friday by the World Heart Federation, half of all Chinese smokers and one-third of Indian and Vietnamese smokers are unaware of the risks tobacco poses to our heart.

Awareness of the risk of secondhand smoke is even lower.

Around 275 million Indians consume tobacco which has 3095 chemical components - 28 of which are proven carcinogens tha can cause cancer According to WHF, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world's leading cause of death, killing 17.3 million people every year.

Eighty per cent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries like India, which are increasingly being targeted by the tobacco industry.

Tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure causes about one-tenth of global deaths from CVD.

Even smoking a few cigarettes a day significantly increases the risk of heart disease. Smokeless tobacco products have also been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Secondhand smoke exposure increases the risk of heart disease by 25 per cent and more than 87 per cent of worldwide adult deaths caused by secondhand smoke are attributable to CVD.

The report, entitled "Cardiovascular harms from tobacco use and secondhand smoke" was commissioned by the WHF and written by the International Tobacco Control Project (ITC Project), in collaboration with the Tobacco Free Initiative at the World Health Organization. Professor Geoffrey T Fong at the University of Waterloo, Canada and chief principal Investigator of the ITC Project, said "This report shows a broad correlation between poor knowledge of the risks of tobacco use and high levels of smoking prevalence. To break this link and reduce the deadly toll of tobacco, more needs to be done to increase awareness of the specific health harms."

Professor Fong added "Our research shows that the risks of tobacco use to lung health are very widely accepted. But we need to attain the same level of knowledge and awareness that tobacco use can cause heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease and secondhand smoke can cause heart attack."

According to Fong, health warning labels are known to be an effective method for educating the public on the health harms of tobacco products.

A number of countries have introduced warnings about the increased risk of heart disease or heart attack, but no country has yet implemented a label to warn people that secondhand smoke causes heart disease.

Johanna Ralston, CEO of World Heart Federation, commented: "If people don't know about the cardiovascular effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure, they cannot understand how much or how quickly smokers are endangering not only their own lives, but those of family members, friends, co-workers or other non-smokers who breathe tobacco smoke. In countries like India or China, so many people are at high risk for heart attack or stroke, and it strikes at a relatively early age: risks of CVD are far more present and immediate than most of the better-known fatal effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure."

According to him, knowing about cardiovascular risks of tobacco will help smokers take quitting seriously, and encourage people to demand and comply with policies that protect everyone from the harms of tobacco.

The report, which presents data from two major global tobacco research and surveillance studies - the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) and the ITC Project - recommends three steps to reduce the current and future cases of CVD due to tobacco use - which may total over 100 million people - among the one billion people throughout the world who smoke today, and of their families exposed to secondhand smoke:

"Increase the price of tobacco products, eliminate tobacco promotion and marketing and Implement 100 per cent smokefree laws in workplaces and public places - which is proven to significantly lower hospital admissions for heart attacks," it suggested.

A recent WHO report had said that almost 2 in 5 deaths among adults aged 30 years and above in India are caused due to smokeless tobacco. According to WHO's "Mortality attributable to tobacco report" globally 12% of all deaths among adults aged 30 years and over were due to smokeless tobacco in 2004 compared with 16% in India, 17% in Pakistan and 31% inBangladesh.

Direct tobacco smoking was responsible for 5 million deaths. Another 6 lakh people died from second-hand smoke. Over the next 20 years, the annual death toll from tobacco will be 8 million, with more than 80% of those deaths projected to occur in low- and middle-income countries.

WHO says tobacco could, in the 21st century, kill over 1 billion people. Many think smokeless tobacco is safer than the smoking form. However that's not really true.

Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, executive director, Voluntary Health Association of India added "2500 people die every day due to tobacco related diseases in India. Display of harsher pictorial warnings on tobacco products is one of the most effective tool to reduce tobacco consumption. Chewing tobacco and gutka itself contributes to 90% of oral cancer cases in the country," she said.

According to the Global Adult Tobacco India Survey (GATS), 21% of the country's population is addicted to smokeless tobacco alone and another 5% percent smoke as well as use smokeless tobacco.

Among smokeless tobacco products, khaini is used the most, followed by gutkha. Around 91% of female tobacco users use smokeless products like betel quid with tobacco is used the most, followed by gutkha and khaini.

According to GATS, India spends approximately Rs 300 billion annually in both public and private spending on treatment of tobacco related illness, accounting for roughly one fourth of all health spending.

The World lung Organisation recently said that globally, tobacco-related deaths have nearly tripled in the past decade, and tobacco is responsible for more than 15% of all male deaths and 7% of female deaths. The World Tobacco Atlas says more than 43 trillion cigarettes have been smoked in the last 10 years and cigarette production has increased by 16.5% in that time period.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: Even as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in various parts of India, more than 1 million people have recovered and discharged till now, informed Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health, here on Thursday.

"More than 1 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers," Bhushan said at a press conference.

Giving the number of cured persons, Bhushan said, "More than 1,020,000 patients have recovered. They have been discharged. It is a great achievement."

He said, "The recovery rate has shown positive trends. It was 7.85 per cent in April and today it is 64.4 per cent, which is another heartening news which tells us that whatever battle is put by the Union government in collaboration with state governments is showing results."

"Sixteen states of the country have a recovery rate that is more than the national average. Of these, Delhi has a recovery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh 80 per cent, Haryana 78 per cent, Assam 76 per cent, Telangana 74 per cent, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat 73 per cent, Rajasthan 70 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 69 per cent and Goa 68 per cent," Bhushan said.

He said effective clinical management lead to a decrease in case fatality rate. In June it was 3.33 per cent and now 2.21 per cent.

Bhushan said the case fatality rate in India today is 2.21 per cent and it's among the lowest in the world. Twenty-four states and Union Territories have lesser fatality rate than that of the country.

Herd immunity in a country of the size and population of India can not be a strategic option. It can only be achieved through immunisation.

"Over 18,190,000 tests have been conducted in the country including RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests. There has been a week-on-week increase in average tests per day. India is conducting 324 test per 10 lakhs population per day," Bhushan said.

He added, three vaccine candidates, are in phase 3 clinical trial. These three are in the US, UK and China. In India, two indigenously developed vaccine candidates are in phase I and II of clinical trials. 

Trial of the first vaccine involves 1,150 subjects at eight sites, second on 1,000 subjects at five sites.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 22,2020

New Delhi, Jul 22: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday urged the newly elected members of the House to uphold rules and procedures of the House while discharging their duties as the lawmakers for the country.

"In his remarks at the end of the administration of oath/affirmation to the new members of Rajya Sabha in the Chamber of the House today, Shri Naidu urged them to hold themselves to account with regard to their conduct both within and outside the House, so as to enhance the standing of the institution in the eyes of the people," read a press note.

The note further read that Naidu suggested the members to "question themselves if they had acted to enhance the dignity of the institution or to the contrary at the end of each day during the session and if their conduct was ethical during the inter-session period".

He said, "Answers to these simple questions would guide you on the right path."

He further stressed, "Ensuring rule of law is the spirit of our law of the land (Constitution). It shall begin with your compliance with the rules and procedures of this House."

Of the 61 members elected to Rajya Sabha from 20 States in the recent biennial and bye-polls, 45 made oath/affirmation today including 36 who have been elected for the first time. 12 sitting members have been re-elected which include Sharad Pawar, Digvijaya Singh, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Prem Chand Gupta, Harivansh and Ramdas Athawale, who took oath today.

Those elected for the first time to Rajya Sabha include Mallikarjun Kharge, Jyotiraditya M Scindia and KC Venugopal who have vast legislative experience and taken oath today. Those members who could not make oath/affirmation will do so during the ensuing Monsoon Session.

"Members including three women made oath/affirmation in 10 languages viz., Telugu, Bodo, Kannada, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi and English," the note read further.

"Today's oath-taking has been organized to enable the newly elected members to participate in the committee meetings which are underway at once and in the monsoon session which is to follow. I hope to nominate all of you on different committees in a day or two. #RajyaSabha," the Vice President's official handle tweeted earlier on Wednesday.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 22,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, May 22: Domestic flyers arriving in Kerala must undergo strict home quarantine as per the lockdown guidelines, in view of increasing COVID-19 cases in the state, Health Minister K K Shailaja said on Friday.

"Even if the domestic flight services resume, those coming in must remain under strict home quarantine as per the guidelines.

There is no change in that. Most people will be coming from the major hotspots of the country," she said.

Announcing the resumption of domestic flight services from May 25, the Civil Aviation Ministry had indicated on Thursday that it was not in favour of quarantining passengers on short-haul flights.

However, the Assam government has made it mandatory for all air passengers coming to that state to stay in quarantine for 14 days.

Apart from the health department and the local self government institutions, Shailaja said the people of Kerala must also ensure that every returnee to the state remained under strict home quarantine in order to curb the spread of the disease.

"We need to strictly keep under observation all those who come fromoutside the state and make sure that they do not come into contact with others including their family members.

They should be effectively remain under room quarantine at their residence," she said.

The state reported 690 cases after 24 more tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.

As of now over 80,000 people are under observation across the state.

On the death of a 73-year-old woman, who came from Mumbai, on Thursday, the minister said, "Khadijakuttycame from Mumbai along with three others. She alighted at Chavakkad. Her son who picked her up from there took her to the govt hospital as she was tired. She was given good care."

"However, as her condition worsened, had taken a decision to sent her to the medicalcollege. Her swab test was taken and she was tested positive, but she passed away," Shailaja said.

The minister sounded a word of caution that there would be an increase in cases in the coming days as the influx of people coming from abroad and other states would continue.

"We cannot prevent anyone from coming. They are our brothers and were suffering there. We need to save those who come here and also those who are here," the Minister said.

Shailaja said the southern state had successfully managed the first two phases of the viral outbreak in January and March.

"There were three deaths. But we managed to save the rest of the people including a 93-year-old man," she said.

The Minister further said the situation in the state changed after flight services resumed and the border roads were re-opened after May 7.

"Our fatality rate is low and recovery rate is high.

After May 7, when the flight restrictions were lifted and people from other states started coming in, we reported 188 cases.

At least 90 per cent of the positive cases came from outside and the rest are their contacts," she noted.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.