Smoking

People who smoke occasionally — even just a few times a month — still have a mortality risk significantly higher than never smokers, suggesting that complete cessation is needed to lower risks, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

People who quit smoking prior to a lung cancer diagnosis demonstrated considerably reduced risk for death due to all causes compared with those who continued to smoke, according to study results scheduled for presentation during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that primary care clinicians provide interventions to prevent school-aged children and adolescents from using tobacco, such as offering education or brief counseling. However, the task force said there is insufficient evidence to support primary care interventions for the cessation of tobacco use among children who already smoke.

Between 2016 and 2018, the use of e-cigarettes increased among U.S. adults, with nearly 1 in 20 reporting daily or frequent use of vaping products, according to findings presented at the virtual American College of Cardiology scientific sessions.

Individuals who began smoking at a younger age were more likely to be daily smokers as adults and less likely to have quit smoking by their 40s, according to findings from the International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers found no link between cigarette smoking and the severity of COVID-19 among cases in China, according to results of a preliminary meta-analysis published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine.

Korean adults who reported being daily smokers and drinkers were less likely to develop thyroid cancer during 5 years of follow-up compared with never-smokers and never-drinkers, according to findings published in Thyroid.

Adults with type 2 diabetes are at greater risk for vision loss if they have smoked, had an episode of severe hypoglycemia or an elevated urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio, according to findings published in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications.

Click here to read the Cover Story, “Smoking cessation should be ‘pillar’ of the cancer treatment protocol.”

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of cancer, responsible for nearly 30% of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. annually.