HEALTH EFFECTS OF TOBACCO

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Australian and New Zealand Atlas of Avoidable Mortality (Sep 2006)
A report produced by the Public Health Information Development Unit, Australia
and the New Zealand Ministry of Health, claiming that over 60% of all deaths in Australia (ages 0-74) are avoidable. "The highest rates of avoidable mortality in the major condition groups were for cancers, responsible for 32.8% of avoidable mortality and cardiovascular diseases (31.6% of avoidable mortality). Together, these two major condition groups were responsible for over 60% of avoidable mortality at ages 0 to 74 years."

ABS Cancer in Australia: A Snapshot, 2004-05 (published Aug 2006)
This publication was first issued in 2001 and is designed to provide a very brief overview of the incidence and prevalence of the types of cancer suffered in Australia.

ABS Tobacco Smoking in Australia: A Snapshot, 2004-05 (published Sep 2006)
This is the first issue of this publication. It is designed to provide a very brief overview of the prevalence of tobacco smoking and the morbidity and mortality attributed to smoking in Australia. See also the ABS Themes - Health page for other related "snapshot" documents, such as Changes in Health.

ACS Cancer Atlas (published Jul 2006)
Compiled by Dr. Judith Mackay, Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, Dr. Nancy C. Lee, Dr. D. Maxwell Parkin and published by the American Cancer Society. The atlas covers 27 topics, such as risk factors (tobacco, infection, diet and nutrition, UV radiation, reproductive and hormonal factors), the burden of cancer (major cancers, lung cancer, cancer in children) and primary prevention. See also the Tobacco Atlas

AIHW Australia's Health 2006 (published Jun 2006)
The tenth biennial health report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) covering patterns of health and illness, including the health effects of tobacco smoking. Click here to go to Chapter 3 of the report, which covers Health Behaviours and go to page 18 of the pdf to review data about tobacco smoking impact and prevalence. Review also the morbidity and illness section. See also Australia's Health 2004 and Australia's Health 2002 to compare with the new 2006 report.

AIHW & AACR Cancer in Australia 2001 (published Dec 2004)
Joint report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries (AACR) published in the AIHW Cancer series. Cancer accounted for 29% of all deaths in Australia in 2001. 88,398 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2001, excluding non-melanoma skin cancers. Cigarette smoking is still a major cause of cancer in Australia, estimated to have directly caused 12.5% of all new cases of cancer and 21.6% of cancer deaths in 2001. Click here to just view the introductory pages of the report and the section on cancers attributed to smoking and alcohol consumption. See also Cancer in Australia 2000 (published Nov 2003), Cancer in Australia 1999 (published Nov 2002) (cancer caused 12.9% of all new cases of cancer and 21.8% of cancer deaths in 1999) and Cancer in Australia 1998 (published Nov 2001) (this report showed that cancer rates in Australia were falling due largely to declining lung cancer rates in males.

AIHW Cancer incidence projections for Australia 2002-2011 (Aug 2005)
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report that includes data on cancers attributed to smoking and alcohol consumption. The incidence of smoking-related cancers is projected to decrease for men but increase for women, however, at a rate that becomes slower towards the end of the projection period.

AIHW Chronic Diseases and Associated Risk Factors in Australia, 2006 (Nov 2006)
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has updated the 2001 edition, providing data on the patterns of disease across the age groups, the prevalence of risk factors and their trends, the effects of chronic diseases on health services in Australia, and the differences in chronic diseases and their risk factors across geographical areas, socioeconomic status and Indigenous status. Includes a useful "snapshot of chronic diseases". Tobacco smoking as a risk factor: "Compared with major cities, regional areas of Australia experience higher prevalence of many of the risk factors for chronic disease, such as smoking (11% higher)...Compared with areas of high socioeconomic status, the least advantaged areas of Australia have higher levels of smoking...Compared with other Australians,Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons have higher prevalence of smoking..."

AIHW Epidemic of Coronary Heart Disease and its Treatment in Australia (published Sep 2002)
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report by Sushma Mathur providing information on prevalence and risk factors (tobacco smoking, insufficient physical activity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and obesity).

AIHW Health Inequalities in Australia (published Mar 2006)
This joint publication by the AIHW and the Queensland University of Technology published reviews morbidity, health behaviours, risk factors and health services use for the periods 1989-90, 1995 and 2001. It looks at where people live, their income, education and occupation, and finds that being disadvantaged puts people at much higher risk for health problems. Persons aged 15-24 years from disadvantaged areas were more likely to engage in harmful health-related behaviours, including smoking. Persons aged 25-64 years from disadvantaged areas were more likely to report being a regular smoker. Click here to review the whole report.

AIHW Indicators of Health Risk Factors (published Oct 2003)
Report published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that provides information about four health risk factors: alcohol consumption; physical inactivity; tobacco smoking; overweight & obesity. Click here to review the section on tobacco smoking.

AIHW Living Dangerously: Australians with Multiple Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease (published Feb 2005)
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Bulletin no. 24 providing a summary of the risk factor profile of Australian adults - focusing on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The data comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2001 National Health Survey. The nine risk factors examined include smoking, physical activity, low fruit consumption, low vegetable consumption, risky alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity and diabetes.

AIHW Mortality Over the Twentieth Century in Australia (Apr 2006)
This Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report presents trends and patterns in major causes of death from 1907 to 2000. Published in April 2006 as part of the Mortality Surveillance Series. Examine Chapter 4 'Broad causes of mortality' and Chapter 5 'Specific causes of mortality' for details about cancer and specifically, lung cancer.

AIHW A Picture of Australia's Children (published May 2005)
Report published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare providing data on the health, development and wellbeing of Australia's children aged 0-14 years. Click here to review the section that includes data on tobacco use, smoking during pregnancy and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the home.

AIHW Smoking and Pregnancy (August 2006)
Report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Perinatal Statistics Unit. Presents data on pregnancy and births according to the mother's smoking status during pregnancy for the period 2001 to 2003, using the National Perinatal Data Collection (NPDC). Smoking during pregnancy is associated with poorer birth outcomes.

BMA Smoking & Reproductive Life
Published by the British Medical Association (BMA) in February 2004, the report "Smoking & Reproductive Life: the impact of smoking on sexual, reproductive & child health" states that smoking damages sexual and reproductive health in both men and women.

BMJ 50 Year British Doctor Study
The BMJ have made a preprint available for the results of a study involving 34439 male British doctors. The study is by Richard Doll, Richard Peto, Jillian Boreham and Isabelle Sutherland and is entitled "Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors". Smoking habits data were obtained in 1951 and cause specific mortality was monitored periodically for 50 years.

Calculating Tobacco-related Mortality
A widely recognised method of calculating tobacco-related mortality has been developed by Richard Peto et al. and is described in the following publications:

Peto R, Lopez AD, Boreham J, Thun M and Heath Jr C. Mortality from tobacco in developed countries: indirect estimation from national vital statistics. Lancet 1992; 339:1268-78.

Peto R, Lopez AD, Boreham J, Thun M and Heath Jr C. Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries 1950-2000. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.

Cancer in New South Wales (published Jun 2005)
Reports on cancer incidence and prevalence based on the NSW Cancer Council's cancer register. See also the Council's Cancer Information Fact Sheets.

CDC National Tobacco Information Online System (NATIONS)
Hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the system is a collaboration between the World Health Organization Tobacco-Free Initiative (WHO-TFI) including Regional Offices (AFRO, EMRO, EURO, PAHO, SEARO, WPRO); the American Cancer Society; the World Bank and the CDC. The database provides country information ranging from prevalence, consumption, economics and demography, to laws and regulations.

Deaths from Smoking.net
Published by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) (Geneva: Switzerland, 2006), this site summarises the hazards of smoking and the benefits of stopping. It provides data for 40 developed countries, including Australia.

Famous Dead Smokers
The American Lung Association of Kansas provides a list of celebrities who died of smoking related illnesses. Click here and here for other compilations of famous people who have died from smoking related diseases. Click here to go to the Tobacco Victims website, a memorial dedicated to the 5 million people who die every year because of tobacco consumption or passive smoking.

The Health Consequences of Smoking — Database
The database includes abstracts of more than 1,600 key articles cited in the 2004 Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking. Developed in collaboration with the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health. Click here for links related to the launch of the 2004 Health Consequences of Smoking Report by the US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona on 27 May 2004.

MJA article - A financial case to enable state health jurisdictions to invest in tobacco control
Medical Journal of Australia article by Seham T Girgis and Jeanette E Ward proposing a formula to estimate tobacco-related expenditure for state health departments and hospital managers.

Mortality from smoking in developed countries 1950-2000
Data prepared by Richard Peto, Alan D. Lopez, Jillian Boreham and Michael Thun and published in 2003. The data was updated in August 2004. Countries reported on include Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Click here to see the table fo contents.

NHMRC The Health Effects of Passive Smoking NHMRC Report
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) established a Working Party to update the NHMRC's 1986 report Effects of passive smoking on health. This scientific information paper was published in November 1997.

RCP TAG Nicotine Addiction in Britain (published Feb 2000)
A report of the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians. Covers all aspects of nicotine addiction from neuroscience and physiology through psychology and behavioural aspects to regulation and policy and its scope is applicable well beyond Britain. It is a good primer on the futility of trying to manage nicotine addiction by regulating cigarette design - for example by mandating reduced nicotine yields. It provides comparisons with other addictive drugs - among many other things the report concludes that tobacco delivered nicotine is addictive on a par with heroin and cocaine.

United States DHHS 10th Report on Carcinogens
The US Department of Health and Human Services 10th Report on Carcinogens prepared by the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) includes information on tobacco related exposures. Click here to view the table of contents for the entire report.

United States NCI Smoking Risk Information
A tool made available by the US National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences that provides individualised smoking risk information. A current smoker, past smoker, or friend of a smoker enters a specific smoking profile (gender, current age, age when smoking started, and cigarettes per day). A graph is then created that shows the future risk of either lung cancer mortality or all-cause mortality and compares this to the risk of a nonsmoker.

United States Surgeon General Reports (New report published Jun 2006)
The National Library of Medicine has digitised and made available over the World Wide Web all the Reports of the US Public Health Service Surgeon General. In addition to the Surgeon General Reports, there are articles, white papers, brochures, pamphlets, photographic images and slides of historic figures. In June 2006, a new report was released The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. The 2006 report finds that secondhand smoke exposure can cause heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and is a known cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks in infants and children. Click here for links related to the launch of the 2004 Health Consequences of Smoking Report by the US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona on 27 May 2004. The links include an interactive animation of The Health Consequences of Smoking on The Body outlining the effects of smoking on the different organs of the body based on the findings of the 2004 Surgeon General's Report. The US National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has provides access to the 2004 Surgeon General's Report chapter by chapter.

WHO Projections of Mortality and Burden of Disease to 2030 (Nov 2006)
The World Health Organization has revised global and regional projections of mortality and burden of disease by cause. The paper by Mathers and Loncar (Mathers CD, Loncar D. Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Med 2006;3(11-e442):2011-2030) provides projections for tobacco attributable deaths. Projects that the total "tobacco-attributable deaths will rise from 5.4 million in 2005 to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030. Projected deaths for 2030 range from 7.4 million in the optimistic scenario to 9.7 million in the pessimistic scenario. Tobacco-attributable deaths are projected to decline by 9% between 2002 and 2030 in high-income countries, but to double from 3.4 million to 6.8 million in low- and middleincome".

WHO World Health Report 2002
Published October 2002, The World Health Report 2002: Reducing risks, Promoting Healthy Life examines the biggest risks to human health and their impact on disease, disability and death. Tobacco consumption is included in the top ten risks, globally and regionally.

WHO Neuroscience of psychoactive substance use and dependence: summary
Summary of a World Health Organization report published in March 2004. The report focuses on a wide range of psychoactive substances, including tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

WHO TFI Health Impact
Global information about the burden of tobacco-related disease from the World Health Organization's Tobacco Free Initiative.

Report of the New South Wales Chief Health Officer
Revised in 2004, this report provides an overview of the health of the people of NSW and presents trends in key health indicators. The report is divided into four parts: Determinants of health, Burden of disease, Health inequalities and Health priority areas. Includes data on smoking status (current smoker, ex-smoker, never smoked) by sex aged 16 and over, number of smokers (by age and sex), quitting smoking status (by age and sex), attitudes to smoking bans (by sex), smoking in secondary school students (recent smoking by age and sex).

Smoking-caused fires. A major report from the USA June 2005.