Smoking and Tobacco News

Patients with head and neck cancers who undergo prophylactic gastrostomy tube insertion before radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy are more likely to have a lengthier duration on the feeding tube if they are current smokers or heavy consumers of alcohol, according to study results.

International experts are calling for the sale of tobacco to be phased out by 2040 and for governments to be proactive and institute strict policy to guide this process.

As marijuana becomes increasingly common and legally accessible in some states, clinicians have an increased concern regarding the potential allergens associated with the use and handling of Cannabis sativa.

Raising the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products in the United States to 21 or 25 years may significantly decrease smoking prevalence and as a result, smoking-related mortalities, according to projections from the Institute of Medicine.

The integration of smoking cessation programs targeting patients with Crohn’s disease is cost-effective for health care systems, recent study data found.

Mothers who smoked while pregnant increased their children’s risks for early and persistent wheezing and asthma when the children reached school age, according to study results.

The decline in smoking rates will translate to fewer people qualifying for lung cancer screening with low-dose CT, thereby potentially leading to higher rates of lung cancer mortality, according to researchers at Mayo Clinic.

The FDA has updated the safety label for the smoking cessation drug Chantix to include new risks associated with using the medication in combination with alcohol, according to a press release.

The segmental airway lumen area was reduced in smokers with asthma compared with nonsmokers with asthma and was associated with poor symptom control and small airway dysfunction, according to study results.

Chantix helped more smokers to reduce gradually the number of cigarettes they smoked daily and eventually to quit compared with placebo, according to study results.