A greater cause of death than any disease

Jun 25 2007 by Jane Picken, Evening Chronicle

Every time a smoker sparks up they are harming nearly every organ in their body and, more worryingly, are putting themselves at risk of deadly illnesses. Health reporter JANE PICKEN has the details.

LUNG cancer, heart disease, stroke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, rheumatoid arthritis...the list of smoking-related illnesses goes on and on.

And according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) smoking is a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease, causing life expectancy to plummet.

It has been estimated that in England alone 364,000 patients are admitted to NHS hospitals each year due to diseases caused by smoking.

This translates into 7,000 hospital admissions per week, or 1,000 day, and for every death caused by smoking, approximately 20 smokers are suffering from a smoking-related disease.

“I always encourage patients to give up smoking,” said head and neck Macmillan nurse specialist Amanda Dear, who is based at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, but works across the city.

“But some find it very difficult and if they continue it can have an impact on their treatment or recovery.”

Health experts estimate tobacco smoking is a known or probable cause of 25 diseases, but many believe the true impact on the world’s health is still not fully known.

One thing the WHO are prepared to say is that they believe by 2020 the death toll will have reached 10m and that smoking will cause 17.7% of deaths in developed countries.

The world’s 1.1 billion smokers are at a high risk of getting a number of serious illnesses. Here we profile them and talk to patients about the devastating effect the diseases have had on their lives.