AN UPDATE ON CIGARETTE SMOKING TODAY

An Update on Cigarette Smoking Today

An Update on Cigarette Smoking Today

Introduction

It is known that the act of smoking has impacted millions of smokers and their families worldwide. This research and following discussion will investigate the prevalence of smoking today and its' impact on major health issues. Additionally, this study will examine education as it is related to persons with the greatest smoking addiction today (Bialous 2009). Furthermore, the research will evaluate a limitation of the nurses' roles and ability to provide smoking cessation education.

Discussion

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report says, “Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States.”(2009) The USA has seen 45 million persons kick the habit but twenty percent of American is still smoking today. 435,000 lives are lost each year due to smoking (Kropp 2004). Worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society, smoking will kill 650 million of the world's 1.3 billion smokers alive today. Harvard's Men Watch November 2008 reports some progress has been made in the U.S. The desired goal of The Healthy People 2010 objective of reducing cigarette smoking by 12% is falling short.. During the years 2008 - 2008, smoking clearly shows a small decline of U.S. adults by 3.5% (from 24.1% to 20.6%). During the years 2007 - 2008 smoking prevalence did not change significantly.

In 2008, smoking prevalence is higher in men (23.1%) that women (18.3%). Along racial lines, Asians had the lowest prevalence of smoking at 9.9% while American Indians/Alaska Natives were the highest reporting 32.4 % prevalence. Non-Hispanic whites recorded 22% prevalence. The population sub-groups that met the Healthy People 2010 target of <12 were Asian women and Hispanics with higher level of education. Older adults met the Healthy People 2010 target of <12 (Gulliver 2006).

There is 193 billion dollar health-care cost and lost productivity price tag associated with tobacco addiction. On a personal level, the average pack of cigarettes cost over $7.00. The cost to an individual or to a family in discretionary spending is obvious. Simple math reveals an individual may save in out- of- pocket spending over $50,000 during the course of a lifetime by choosing to quit or never smoke. The seven large tobacco companies were fined 206 billion dollars in 2008 because of their marketing methods. This money was to be paid to the states for tobacco related health care costs. The serious impact of smoking continues.

Smoking is directly linked to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, emphysema, diabetes, bladder cancer, osteoporosis, alcohol dependence and erectile dysfunction. 80 -90% of patients with emphysema are directly attributed to smoking. Chronic bronchitis and pneumonia also shows an increase in the smoker population. Harvard Men Health Watch (2008)the chronic problem of alcohol dependence commonly occurs with nicotine dependence(Dube 2009). A myth surrounds alcohol recovery. It is commonly thought that it too difficult to tackle both addictions at the same time but research actually supports a 25% greater likelihood of long ...