One-fourth of US cancer deaths tied to smoking

Air pollution can affect blood pressure Older women face pregnancy complications

CHICAGO, Oct 25, (Agencies): Cigarettes contribute to more than 1 in 4 cancer deaths in the US. The rate is highest among men in Southern states where smoking is more common and the rules against it are not as strict.

The American Cancer Society study found the highest rate among men in Arkansas, where 40 percent of cancer deaths were linked to cigarette smoking. Kentucky had the highest rate among women — 29 percent.

The lowest rates were in Utah, where 22 percent of cancer deaths in men and 11 percent in women were linked with smoking.

“The human costs of cigarette smoking are high in all states, regardless of ranking”, the authors said.

They analyzed 2014 health surveys and government data on smoking rates and deaths from about a dozen smoking-linked cancers. Lung, throat, stomach, liver, colon, pancreas and kidney cancers were among those included, along with leukemia. The researchers estimated how many cancer deaths were likely attributable to smoking, and compared that with deaths from all cancers.

Results were published Monday in. JAMA Internal Medicine.

While US smoking rates have been falling, 40 million US adults are cigarette smokers and smoking is the top cause of preventable deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study found that at least 167,000 cancer deaths in 2014 — about 29 percent of all US cancer deaths — were attributable to smoking. A government estimate based on different methods says 1 in 3 US cancer deaths are linked with smoking, and the study authors acknowledge they may have underestimated the true burden posed by cigarettes.

Most of the 10 states with the highest rates of smoking-attributable cancer deaths were in the South, while most of the 10 states with the lowest rates were in the North or West. Spanish Queen Letizia attends the congress ‘Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative’, at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO), in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct 24. (AP)

Among men, where smoking is generally more common, the cigarette-linked cancer death rate was highest in blacks at 35 percent, compared with 30 percent for whites and 27 percent for Hispanics. Among women, whites had the highest cigarette-linked cancer death rate — 21 percent, compared 19 percent for blacks and 12 percent for Hispanics.

The researchers say nine of 14 states with the least comprehensive smoke-free indoor air policies are in the South. The average cigarette excise tax in major tobacco states, mostly in the South, is 49 cents, compared with $1.80 elsewhere. The tobacco industry heavily influences

these policies and most of the US tobacco crop is grown in the South, the researchers said. The region also has relatively high levels of poverty, which is also linked with smoking.

Long-term exposure to urban air pollution incrementally increases the risk of high blood pressure, according to a study released Tuesday of more than 41,000 European city-dwellers.

Constant noise pollution — especially traffic — also boosts the likelihood of hypertension, researchers reported in the European Heart Journal. MIAMI, Oct 25, (AFP): Doctors have long warned women that getting pregnant later in life can raise the risk of stroke, but a study Monday suggested that actually, only young women face this increasing risk.

The findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology compared stroke rates among pregnant and non-pregnant women of different age groups.

Previous studies have focused on the rate of stroke among pregnant women of different ages — finding stroke is more common among older women — but have not included a non-pregnant, agedmatched control group for comparison.

“Despite stroke being a rare event in young women, 18 percent of all strokes in women younger than 35 years were associated with pregnancy”, said the study led by Eliza Miller of Columbia University.

“In contrast, among older women of childbearing age, 1.4 percent of strokes were associated with pregnancy”.

High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for premature illness and death.

The study found that one extra adult per 100 people of roughly the same age developed high blood pressure in the most polluted part of towns compared to more breathable neighbourhoods.

The risk is similar to being clinically overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 25-30, the researchers said.

To carry out the study, 33 experts led by Barbara Hoffmann, a professor at Heinrich-HeineUniversity

Of the more than 19,000 women admitted for strokes during that decade, just over four percent were pregnant or had delivered a baby in the last six weeks.

Women 24 and younger had more than twice the risk of stroke in the pregnancy and six-week postpartum period (14 strokes per 100,000 women) as their non-pregnant counterparts (six strokes per 100,000 women).

Among women aged 25 to 34, pregnancy associated stroke happened at a rate of 21.2 per 100,000 pregnant women, compared to 13.5 per 100,000 non-pregnant women.

Strokes became more common among women aged 35 to 44, but surprisingly, there was hardly any difference in stroke rate whether women were pregnant (33 per 100,000) or not (31 per 100,000).

“Although older women have an increased risk of many pregnancy complications, a higher risk of stroke may not be one of them”, said the study.

in Duesseldorf, Germany, monitored 41,071 people in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Spain for five to nine years.

At the same time, the researchers examined air quality annually in each locale during three two-week periods between 2008 and 2011, measuring different sizes of particle matter.

Every increment of five micrograms — or millionths of a gram — of the smallest of these particles upped the risk of hypertension by a fifth for people living in the most polluted areas, compared to those in the least polluted.