Research

Teen girls smoke now, pay later with larger waistlines as adults
A prospective population-based study of twins found that people who smoke during adolescence are more likely to be overweight during adulthood. Adolescents of both genders who smoked between the ages of 16 and 18 were more likely to carry excess abdominal weight later in life. Also, female adolescent smokers were found to be 74% more likely to be overweight by their twenties than nonsmokers. Adjusting for confounding factors and body mass index (BMI), women who smoked during their youth had a 34% greater risk of abdominal obesity later in life. Girls who smoked at least ten cigarettes a day had the greatest risk for weight problems. The researchers speculate that the larger may be related to smoking among females for weight control. Click here to read more. Click here to read the abstract of the article, which appears in the American Journal of Public Health.

Cancer deaths take heavy financial toll
Two side-by-side research papers in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute used different methods to calculate the current and projected future financial costs of cancer deaths in the United States. Click here to read the abstract of the first paper, “Productivity Costs of Cancer Mortality in the United States: 2000–2020,” which assesses the cost of cancer by determining the amount of money either not earned or spent due to lives lost. By this method, the cost of a cancer death is dependent on determinants the deceased individual’s earning potential, such as age. This method put the costs of lost productivity and of cancer care at $232.4 billion in 2000, and projects that this figure will grow to $308 billion in 2020. Click here to access the other article, “Estimates and Projections of Value of Life Lost From Cancer Deaths in the United States,” which calculated the amount of years of life that will be lost to cancer through 2020 (person-years of life lost), and multiplied by the cost an individual would be willing to pay for an additional year of life (a value set at $150,000 based on previous studies in the U.S.) in order to calculate the cost of cancer. This study estimated the cost of cancer in 2000 at $960.7 billion, and projected a 53%increase by 2020 cost to $1.4 trillion. Click here to read a summary that compares the methods used in each article.

Harm-reduction cigarettes are more toxic than traditional cigarettes, study finds
The chemicals found in cigarettes that are marketed as “light” or “low-yield” may actually cause more harm during prenatal development than normal cigarettes, according to a recent study. To model the effects of smoke on embryos in a very early stage of development, researchers exposed mouse embryonic stem cells to two types of cigarette smoke, mainstream smoke, which is typically inhaled by smokers, and sidestream smoke, which is the smoke that burns from the end of the cigarette. Both types of smoke were found to inhibit cell growth, and were linked to cell death. Surprisingly, the harmful effects on development from the “light” cigarettes were either comparable or worse than the effects of traditional cigarettes. Further research will determine whether similar effects are found in human embryonic stem cells. Click here to read a summary of the findings, or click here to access the abstract from the journal Human Reproduction.

Smokeless tobacco may increase stroke risk
According to a recent study, use of the smokeless tobacco product snus may increase the odds of dying from a stroke. The study followed 118,465 Swedish men for an average of 18 years to collect information on tobacco use and the occurrence of strokes. The data showed that having ever used snus did not significantly increase overall stroke risk compared to never-users. However, ever-users of snus were 27% more likely to have a fatal stroke, compared to those who had never used snus. When the risk of different types of strokes was evaluated, current snus users were 71% more likely to die of ischemic strokes compared to never-users. Click here to read more about this study, which appears in the November 2008 issue of the journal Epidemiology. Click here to read the abstract of the article.

High levels of prenatal smoking exposure affect sleep patterns in preterm neonates
A recent study suggests that smoking during pregnancy can have detrimental effects on otherwise-healthy preterm babies’ sleep patterns, potentially putting infants at a greater risk for developmental problems. Scientists observed babies in a neonatal intensive care unit to evaluate the amount and quality of their overnight sleep. Babies whose mothers had not smoked at all during pregnancy were compared to those whose mothers had smoked a small amount during pregnancy and another group of babies of heavier smokers (more than 10 cigarettes/day). Babies of both heavy and light smokers displayed more body movements during sleep, suggestive of more restlessness, compared to the children of nonsmokers. Babies of the heavier smokers not only had significantly lower birth weights, but also had a smaller proportion of quiet, restful sleep. Because of the importance of the neonatal period in development, these sleep disturbances could have detrimental effects on the babies’ physical and neurological development. For more information, click here. Click here to access the abstract of the article, which appears in the journal Sleep.

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