Health promotion: Smoking control

Our plain-English summary of Health promotion: Smoking control (Public Health Reports, 1983).

The study

• Journal: Public Health Reports
• Published: 1983;Suppl:107-116
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is the largest single preventable cause of illness and premature death in the United States. It is the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States and is a causal factor for coronary heart disease and arteriosclerotic peripheral vascular disease; is associated with increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis; and is the most important cause of chronic obstructive lung disease. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of bladder, pancreatic, and renal cancer, and peptic ulcer disease. Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy causes: retarded fetal growth; an increased risk for spontaneous abortion, fetal death, and neonatal death; and, possibly, slight impairment of growth and development during early childhood. Cigarette smoking acts synergistically with oral contraceptives to increases the risk for coronary heart disease and some forms of cerebrovascular disease; with alcohol to increase the risk of cancer of the larynx, oral cavity, and esophagus; with asbestos and some other occupationally encountered substances to increase the likelihood of cancer of the lung and larynx; and with other coronary risk factors such as hypercholesteremia to enhance cardiovascular risk. Smoking is the major identifiable cause of residential fire deaths and injuries as well as a contributor to accidental injuries. Cigarette smokers have a 70 percent higher overall death rate than nonsmokers, and tobacco is associated with an estimate in excess of 300,000 premature deaths a year. It is estimated that smoking contributes to as many as 225,000 deaths from coronary heart disease, the major cause of death among men and women in the United States; more than 100,000 deaths from cancers; and more than 20,000 deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease. Another 10 million Americans currently suffer from debilitating chronic disease caused by smoking. But substantial progress has been made since the release of the first Surgeon General's Report in 1964. More than 30 million smokers have quit since 1964 and the proportion of adult smokers has declined from about 42 percent in 1965 to approximately one-third today. Adult per capita consumption of cigarettes declined temporarily in 1953, 1954, 1964 and 1968-70, and the rate of decline has accelerated since 1977. Teenage smoking, particularly among adolescent girls, appears to be declining.

In plain English

This was not a research study. It was a 1983 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) planning document, published as a supplement to Public Health Reports. It set national goals for smoking control and listed the federal activities meant to reach them, and it presented no new data. Its background summary stated that cigarette smoking acts synergistically with asbestos and some other substances encountered at work to increase the likelihood of cancer of the lung and larynx. This was the only mention of asbestos, and no supporting study or figures were given for it. The document also stated that cigarette smokers have a 70 percent higher overall death rate than nonsmokers, and that the share of adults who smoke had fallen from about 42 percent in 1965 to about one-third. One goal was to reduce adult smoking to below 25 percent by 1990, from 33 percent in 1980. Among its planned research activities, it listed identifying how smoking interacts with occupational and other environmental exposures in causing cancer and other diseases. It described the federal role as to lead, catalyze and provide strategic support.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Federal government policy and planning document (national smoking-control objectives and an implementation plan); not a research study and no new data
• Who was studied: No study population. The objectives address the U.S. population, including adults and children and youth aged 12 to 18.
• Exposure: Cigarette smoking. Asbestos is mentioned only once, as acting together with smoking. No fiber types, products, jobs or doses are given.
• Main results:
  • Background statement, not a study finding and given without supporting data: cigarette smoking acts synergistically with asbestos and some other occupationally encountered substances to increase the likelihood of cancer of the lung and larynx
  • Background statement: cigarette smokers have a 70 percent higher overall death rate than nonsmokers
  • Background statement: the proportion of U.S. adult smokers declined from about 42 percent in 1965 to approximately one-third
  • Baseline for the adult goal: in 1980, 33 percent of the U.S. population smoked
  • Planned research activity (not a result): identify the interaction of smoking with occupational and other environmental exposures in causing cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease and other harms
• The authors' conclusion: The document stated that the federal role in reaching the smoking-control objectives is to lead, catalyze and provide strategic support. It draws no research conclusion.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Obstructive Lung Disease, Laryngeal Cancer.

Related studies

• Healthcare provider smoking cessation advice among US worker groups — D.J. Lee, L.E. Fleming, et al. (2007)
• Public health impact of the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest — C.A. Evans (1993)
• Effectiveness of smoking cessation advice for asbestos workers — A. Johnson, P. Farrow, et al. (2006)
• Effectiveness of postal smoking cessation advice: a randomized controlled trial in young men with reduced FEV1 and asbestos exposure — S. Humerfelt, G.E. Eide, et al. (1998)
• Adverse health effects of fluoro-edenitic fibers: epidemiological evidence and public health priorities — C. Bruno, P. Comba, et al. (2006)
• Environmental factors and human health: fibrous and particulate substance-induced immunological disorders and construction of a health-promoting living environment — T. Otsuki, H. Matsuzaki, et al. (2016)

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