March 14, 2012
By Denise Mann
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) — Bans on smoking in public places, hikes in cigarette taxes and other efforts to get people to quit smoking prevented close to 800,000 deaths from lung cancer between 1975 and 2000 in the United States, a new study shows.
The findings, published online March 14 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, likely represent just the tip of the iceberg as lung cancer is only one of the diseases linked to tobacco smoke, experts say.
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March 13, 2012
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) — Contrary to current guidelines, a majority of American primary care physicians are ordering some form of lung cancer screening test for patients who lack any symptoms of disease, a new national survey reveals.
The findings stems from responses to a questionnaire completed by 962 family physicians, general practitioners and general internists between 2006 and 2007.
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March 9, 2012
FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) — Middle and high school students who bully their classmates are more likely to use cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana than other students, according to a new study.
Ohio State University researchers examined bullying and substance use among more than 74,000 students in all public, private and Catholic middle and high schools in Franklin County, Ohio, which includes Columbus.
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March 8, 2012
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) — More than 3.6 million children and teens in the United States smoke, according to a Surgeon General’s report released Thursday that calls on the nation to curb youth smoking.
“Today, all over America, there are middle-schoolers developing deadly tobacco addictions before they can even drive a car,” said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), during a morning press conference.
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March 2, 2012
By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) — Smokers are at higher risk of developing the autoimmune skin condition psoriasis than nonsmokers, a new study finds, possibly because smoking pushes the body’s immune system into overdrive, one expert suggests.
The research doesn’t directly prove that smoking causes psoriasis, and the wide majority of smokers would avoid developing the condition even if they faced an increased risk.
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March 1, 2012
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) — Following a move by a U.S. federal judge to block a government mandate calling for graphic anti-smoking images on cigarette packaging, Obama Administration officials said they are determined to fight back and keep the rule in place.
“This Administration is determined to do everything we can to warn young people about the dangers of smoking, which remains the leading cause of preventable death in America,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement issued late Wednesday. “This public health initiative will be an effective tool in our efforts to stop teenagers from starting in the first place and taking up this deadly habit. We are confident that efforts to stop these important warnings from going forward will ultimately fail.”
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February 29, 2012
By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 29 (HealthDay News) — Nicotine patches don’t seem to be of much use in helping pregnant women quit smoking, a new study finds.
Dr. Tim Coleman, of the Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Nottingham in England, and colleagues assigned 1,050 women who were 12 to 24 weeks pregnant to one of two groups. Members of one group received behavioral smoking cessation support and wore a nicotine patch, while the other group received the counseling but wore a patch that looked like the real thing but did not contain nicotine.
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February 20, 2012
MONDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) — Most American adults support reducing nicotine in cigarettes to prevent people, especially children, from becoming addicted to smoking, a new study finds.
Researchers surveyed 511 nonsmokers and 510 smokers aged 18 and older and found that, overall, two-thirds supported reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels.
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February 13, 2012
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) — For older people with a certain type and stage of lung cancer, administering radiation treatment after surgery may not extend survival, according to a new study.
Radiation is not without risks, and the new study “questions the benefit of this treatment,” said study leader Dr. Juan Wisnivesky, an associate professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
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February 10, 2012
FRIDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) — People with the condition called Barrett’s esophagus who are smokers may have double the risk of developing esophageal cancer, a new study warns.
These people also have twice the risk of developing advanced precancerous cells, according to the study in the February issue of Gastroenterology.
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