New study Sheds Light More Light on Second-Hand Smoke

This photo was taken by StephenMcLeod on 05-18-2008 and used here under a Creative Commons License

On Nov. 24, 2010, a British medical journal released results of a study on secondhand and its global impact. Researchers studied 192 countries in 2004 and found that 30 percent of men and women are exposed to secondhand smoke, while 40 percent of children are also exposed on a regular basis.

Based on these data scientists then estimated the number of deaths from heart disease and other respiratory illness due to the secondhand smoke. Researchers found that approximately 600,000 people die each year from these illnesses thought to be caused by effects of secondhand smoke exposure. This number accounts for about 1 percent of the world’s population. On its own, smoking is blamed for killing approximately 5 million smokers each year.

In recent years we have found out that being exposed to secondhand smoke can be just as harmful as smoking yourself. It causes a lot of health problems. Children of those who smoke are at greater risk for lung infections, and sudden infant death syndrome.

Surprisingly, rates of exposure were lower in the North and South America, and higher Europe and Asia. Many of the deaths were seen in Southeast Asia and Africa, where the combination of the smoke with local infectious disease puts people, especially children at higher risk. The lower rate of exposure in Western countries is attributed to smoking ban in public places. Though another startling find is that women were twice as more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke than men, and accounted for nearly half of the 600,000 deaths that happened during the study.

For more information and tips on how to quit smoking, please visit: SmokeFree.Gov

To learn the dangers of secondhand Click Here