New study finds smoking increases risk of 56 diseases

A new study by Chinese scientists published in The Lancet found that smokers are at increased risk of developing 56 different diseases. Their list included several types of cancer, but there were also diseases affecting many other body systems - the brain, liver, pancreas, and even the eyes.

Tobacco continues to pose a serious public health threat worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In China, more than a million people die every year from this bad habit, and the number of smokers is growing.

In a study with the University of Oxford, researchers compared people who never smoked, smoked regularly at some point in their lives, or currently smoke.

The study was quite extensive - it looked at 85 causes of death and 480 different individual diseases. The data came from the Chinese biobank Kadoorie. Between 2004 and 2008, over 512,000 adults were enrolled and followed for an average of 11 years.

The researchers found that compared to those who never smoked, men who smoked regularly at some point in their lives had an overall risk of developing a disease about 10% higher. The most common disease was cancer of the larynx.

56 conditions are more common in smokers of both sexes, including lung, stomach, and bladder cancers, as well as diabetes, aortic aneurysms, pneumonia, stomach ulcers, and cataracts.

Men who smoked regularly and lived in urban areas were most at risk of all—the authors note, that these people often start smoking at a younger age and smoke more in general than those who live in rural areas terrain.

But there was good news in the study: people who quit smoking before any serious health problems arose, the risk of developing diseases dropped after about 10 years to the same level as those who never smoked at all.

Commenting on these results, the lead author of the study, Dr. Ka Hoon Chan, noted that this is a vivid reminder to everyone about the serious consequences of smoking and the benefits of quitting before any serious disease. As a countermeasure against the spread of this bad habit, scientists are considering raising the price of cigarettes and more effective warnings about the dangers on the packaging of tobacco products.