Cigarette smoking health effects and prevalence

Cigarette Smoking

This report will tackle cigarette smoking -- an addictive habit that offers an alarming and threatening effect to human health. A wide array of researches is done in order to present this report in a factual and in an intelligible manner, where all the sources were properly acknowledged. Although the subject encompasses a broad discussion, this report will be limited to the general aspects that are applicable to the prevalence of cigarette smoking in Australia and in some parts of the world. The accompanying consequences involved in the use of the substance were also presented- physically, socially, emotionally, and economically.

Smoking has long been linked to fame, masculinity (although nowadays, women are also indulged into cigarette smoking), and liberation. However, these are just some of the minor reasons why people smoke. The major ones include socio-cultural, personal, economic, and environmental reasons. Socio-cultural refers to the social acceptability and is expressed in the form of potential influence and peer pressure. Personal, on the other hand, includes self-image, self-esteem, disposable income, and knowledge. Environmental and economic factors like advertising and promotion, product development and marketing, access and availability, price and indoor smoke-free rules are also significant to the increase in the number of people engaged in smoking. A child whose parents puff a cigarette is more likely to learn smoking. Considering those children who live in a home of smokers, it is not surprising to know that the number of children who start smoking at an early age also increases. According to research, children in the United States smoke 1.1 billion packs of cigarettes yearly (eMedicine 2006). Considering this large number of smokers, it is not impossible that the consequences will also be of great contribution in future health care costs. As the health consequences of cigarette smoking rampantly grow, and so is the need for medical treatment associated with the various diseases.

In Australia, the smoking incidence among women is higher as compared to that of men. It has been figured that this will continue within the next decade. Because of this, the Commonwealth of Australia has issued a call to action to develop new, innovative and effective smoking cessation measures for women (Worth 2002:1). In West Virginia, 90 per cent of women die of lung cancer, being attributed to smoking. This has been reported to be the sixth leading cause of death among women. If this will continue, the quality of life of every individual as well as their families will be affected. Just imagine how miserable it is, say, a mother is addictive to cigarette smoking, and then she eventually suffered a respiratory disease. This will require her to attain the services of a health care provider. What if, she is also the breadwinner in the family? It will also be an added burden to her family's financial needs as well as to her social life. This may sound as a familial issue, but, if we are going to analyze it deeply, there is a chain reaction involved. A person who is stricken by the tobacco epidemic will not be able to function well - at home, at work, everywhere. His or her productivity as well as the organization where he or she belongs will also suffer the consequences. This, in turn, will also affect the overall economic situation of the country. A particular country's condition will also affect its neighboring country, hence, everyone is the world is affected.

Usually, children are the common victims of the adverse effects of tobacco. Babies of smokers have greater chances of being born pre-maturely or having low birth weight. Moreover, secondhand smoke can trigger sudden infant death syndromes. Cigarette smoke can also handicap children for life. They are the one who are likely to develop acute respiratory illness including heart diseases, ear infection, asthma, bronchial cavity, and chronic respiratory system. In the United Sates, smoking has been considered as the leading preventable cause of premature death (Medscape 2008).

It is said that the susceptibility of the person to become infected with the smoke-related diseases is directly proportional to the length of time that a person continues to smoke as well as the amount smoked. However, this can gradually decrease as soon as the person stops to smoke (Wikipedia). Once the smoke is inhaled, the nicotine triggers the habit of using it more and more. The continuous use of the substance can be associated with the many diseases that were mentioned above. Nicotine affects the flow of blood that leads to clotting until the person who smokes experiences heart attack. Contrary to the popular belief, nicotine is not the drug that causes the most harm in cigarettes. It is, however, the culprit behind a smoker's addiction to them. The earlier the smoker starts smoking, and the heavier he or she smokes, the more difficult it is to quit and recover from addiction (Elbert 2005). This is because the brain of the smoker has developed more nicotine receptor sites.

As the whole world celebrates annually the "No Tobacco Days," the World Health Organization has not come short in supporting various informative programs about cigarette smoking as the major cause of the high rates of morbidity. However, based on the recent report that was released by the World Health Organization, despite the campaigns made, only 5% of the people worldwide live in countries that implement any one of the control measures against the global tobacco epidemic.