Tobacco control in US saved 8 million lives: Study

All is not yet lost for India where huge tobacco use kills nearly 1.5 million people a year.

Tobacco control measures that began in the US 50 years ago have resulted in saving an estimated eight million premature smoking-attributable deaths, said a new study.

Researchers estimate that tobacco control also resulted in the beneficiaries of these avoided early deaths having gained, on average, nearly two decades of life, said the study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).

'January 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the first surgeon general's report on smoking and health. The report stressed on efforts to reduce cigarette smoking and its effects on health,' said Theodore R. Holford of the Yale University School of Public Health in Connecticut, US.

'Those efforts by governments, voluntary organisations and the private sector in last 50 years have comprised the nation's tobacco control efforts,' added Holford.

Holford and his colleagues conducted a study to model reductions in smoking-related mortality associated with implementation of tobacco control since 1964.

Actual smoking-related mortality from 1964 through 2012 was compared with estimated mortality under no tobacco control.

The model estimated that a total of 17.7 million smoking-attributable deaths occurred between 1964 and 2012.

Overall, an estimated reduction of eight million premature smoking-attributable deaths (or 'lives saved') were associated with tobacco control during this time period (5.3 million men and 2.7 million women), said the study.

From 1964-2012, it is estimated that overall, a gain of 157 million years of life was associated with tobacco control, 111 million for men and 46 million for women.

'This suggests that individuals who avoided a premature smoking-related death gained approximately 19.6 years of life on average (157 million years divided by 8 million lives saved),' added the authors.

For the population as a whole, life expectancy for men at age 40 years has increased by 7.8 years. Without tobacco control, the estimated increase would have been 5.5 years, concluded the study.

'Despite the success of tobacco control efforts in reducing premature deaths in the United States, smoking still remains a significant public health problem,' the researchers wrote.

Cold Turkey The oldest and most successful method is going 'cold turkey' that is quitting smoking without taking any substitute for nicotine. 75% people who've quit smoking claim to have done so without the aid of any aid or supplement. Coupled with therapy and intervention cold turkey is supposed to be the best way to quit. There are various websites and helplines which help people quit without the aid of any medicines. Most replacement therapies look to chemically substitute the nicotine hit of smoking but it just means switching from one addiction to another. One of the champions of cold turkey was Allen Carr, a chain smoker who quit smoking and went on to write a book entitled The Easy Way to Quit Smoking which is the most popular book on quitting smoking in the world. Many people have quit smoking after reading his book and this list include celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins and closer home Mahesh Babu and Hrithik Roshan. Allen Carr's basic principle was despite overwhelming evidence which points out the hazards of smoking people don't quit because they think of quitting as 'giving in' or giving up.

Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) NRT looks to take care of nicotine craving by providing a substitute source without the harmful effects of tobacco. It works on the principle that though nicotine is the 'addictive' part of cigarettes the more dangerous ones are tar, carbon monoxide and other gases. There are various products under this Nicorette umbrella which look to aid cessation including chewing gums, lozenges, nasal sprays, patches and inhalers. Some electronic cigarettes also have nicotine filters. Real world studies have shown that NRT's aren't as effective as pharmaceutical companies claim. In the real world, 95% who have taken OTC medication have relapsed. (Read: Different ways to quit smoking)

With inputs from: IANS

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