PR89785

SEATTLE, May 28, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

  -- The global number of smokers continues to rise, with smoking causing

     nearly 8 million deaths in 2019, including one in five male deaths.

  -- 90% of new smokers become addicted by age 25 - preventing adolescents

     from starting is crucial for changing the course of the epidemic for

     the next generation.

  -- Countries must meet their commitments to adopt and enforce effective

     tobacco control policies including higher taxes on tobacco products.

     Banning tobacco advertising, including via social media, and

     smoke-free environments could help further prevent smoking initiation

     among young people.

  -- Although global age-standardised prevalence of smoking decreased

     significantly between 1990 and 2019, similar progress was not observed

     for chewing tobacco – with a 25% age-adjusted rate of use among men

     over age 15 in South Asia.

The most comprehensive data on global trends in smoking highlight its enormous

global health toll. The number of smokers worldwide has increased to 1.1

billion in 2019, with tobacco smoking causing 7.7 million deaths – including 1

in 5 deaths in males worldwide.

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Of particular concern are the persistently high rates of smoking among young

people, with over half of countries worldwide showing no progress in reducing

smoking among 15-24 year olds. 89% of new smokers become addicted by age 25.

Protecting young people from nicotine addiction during this critical window

will be crucial to eliminate tobacco use among the next generation.

Using data from 3,625 nationally representative surveys, the three new studies

published in The Lancet and The Lancet Public Health by the Global Burden of

Disease collaboration, led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation,

provide global estimates on smoking prevalence (

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67362101169-7/fulltext

) in 204 countries in men and women aged 15 and over, including age of

initiation (

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-26672100102-X/fulltext

), associated diseases, and risks among current and former smokers, as well as

the first analysis of global trends in chewing tobacco use (

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-26672100065-7/fulltext

).

Published ahead of World No Tobacco Day (31st May), the authors call on all

countries to urgently adopt and enforce a comprehensive package of

evidence-based policies to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use and prevent

initiation, particularly among adolescents and young adults.

"Smoking is a major risk factor that threatens the health of people worldwide,

but tobacco control is woefully insufficient in many countries around the

world. Persistently high smoking prevalence among young people in many

countries, along with the expansion of new tobacco and nicotine products,

highlight an urgent need to double down on tobacco control. If a person does

not become a regular smoker by age 25, they are very unlikely to become a

smoker. This presents a critical window of opportunity for interventions that

can prevent young people from starting smoking and improve their health for the

rest of their lives," says Professor Emmanuela Gakidou, senior author,

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Seattle,

Washington. [1]

Increasing number of smokers highlights uphill battle in global tobacco control

Since 1990, global smoking prevalence among men decreased by 27.5% and by 37.7%

among women. However, twenty countries saw significant increases in prevalence

among men, and 12 saw significant increases among women.

In half of countries, reductions in prevalence have not kept pace with

population growth, and the number of current smokers has increased. The ten

countries with the largest number of tobacco smokers in 2019, together

comprising nearly two-thirds of the global tobacco smoking population, are

China, India, Indonesia, the USA, Russia, Bangladesh, Japan, Turkey, Vietnam,

and the Philippines – one in three current tobacco smokers (341 million) live

in China.

In 2019, smoking was associated with 1.7 million deaths from ischaemic heart

disease, 1.6 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 1.3

million deaths from tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer, and nearly 1 million

deaths from stroke. Previous studies have shown that at least one in two

long-term smokers will die from causes directly linked to smoking, and that

smokers have an average life expectancy ten years lower than never-smokers.

Approximately 87% of deaths attributable to smoking tobacco occurred among

current smokers. Only 6% of global deaths attributable to smoking tobacco use

occurred among individuals who had quit smoking at least 15 years previously,

highlighting the important health benefits of cessation.

7.4 trillion cigarette-equivalents of tobacco (combining smoked tobacco

products include manufactured cigarettes, hand-rolled cigarettes, cigars,

cigarillos, pipes, shisha, and regional products such as bidis and kreteks)

were consumed in 2019, amounting to 20.3 billion each day worldwide. Countries

with the highest consumption per person were mostly in Europe. Globally, one in

three male and one in five female smokers consume 20 or more

cigarette-equivalents per day.

15-24 years: a critical window to change the course of the tobacco epidemic

"Behavioural and biological studies suggest that young people are particularly

vulnerable to addiction, and with high rates of cessation remaining elusive

worldwide, the tobacco epidemic will continue for years to come unless

countries can dramatically reduce the number of new smokers starting each year.

With nine out of ten smokers starting before the age of 25, ensuring that young

people remain smoke-free through their mid-twenties will result in radical

reductions in smoking rates for the next generation," says Marissa Reitsma,

lead author of the studies on smoking, IHME. [1]

In 2019, there were an estimated 155 million smokers aged between 15 and 24

years – equivalent to 20.1% of young men and 5.0% of young women, globally.

Two-thirds (65.5%) of all current smokers began smoking by age 20, and 89% of

smokers began by age 25. This highlights a critical age window during which

individuals develop nicotine addiction and transition to become established

smokers.

In 12 countries and territories in 2019, more than one in three young people

were current smokers, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, France, Chile,

Turkey, and Greenland, as well as five Pacific islands.

Globally, smoking prevalence among young people decreased between 1990 and 2019

among both young men (-32.9%) and young women (-37.6%). Progress varied across

countries with only 81 achieving a significant decrease in prevalence among

young people. More than half of countries experienced no change.  

In many countries, progress in reducing the prevalence of smoking has not kept

pace with population increases, resulting in significant increases in the

number of young smokers. India, Egypt, and Indonesia had the largest absolute

increases in number of young male smokers. Turkey, Jordan, and Zambia had the

largest increases in number of young female smokers.

Globally, the average age at which individuals began smoking regularly is 19.

The youngest average ages of initiation were observed in Europe and the

Americas – with the youngest average age of initiation in Denmark (16.4). The

oldest average ages of initiation were seen in east and south Asia and

sub-Saharan Africa – with the oldest average age of initiation in Togo (22.5

years).

Reitsma adds: "Notably, in countries where prevalence of smoking among young

people has decreased significantly, the age at which people start smoking has

remained constant across time. This is encouraging evidence that interventions

prevent smoking altogether, as opposed to only delaying the age at which people

start smoking."

Stronger regulation of chewing tobacco needed, particularly in South Asia

Globally, 273.9 million people used chewing tobacco in 2019, equivalent to

age-adjusted prevalence of 6.5% among men and nearly 3% among women over the

age of 15. Most people (228.2 million; 83.3%) who used chewing tobacco in 2019

resided in the South Asia region. The largest population of people who use

chewing tobacco are in India with 185.8 million users, corresponding to 68% of

all chewing tobacco users globally. Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan also had very

high prevalence of chewing tobacco use.

"The health risks of chewing tobacco are well documented, including strong

evidence of an increased risk of oral cancer. While global smoking prevalence

has decreased, chewing tobacco has not, suggesting that control efforts have

had much larger effects on the prevalence of smoking than on chewing tobacco in

some countries. Stronger regulations and policies that specifically target use

of chewing tobacco are needed, especially in countries in South Asia with high

prevalence," says Parkes Kendrick, lead author of the study on chewing tobacco,

IHME. [1]

Industry interference and waning political commitment stalling urgent action on

tobacco control

The first international public health treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on

Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), entered into force and became international binding

law in 2005. The WHO FCTC outlines evidence-based interventions including

reducing affordability of tobacco products through taxation, passing

comprehensive smoke-free laws, restriction of sales to minors, mandating health

warnings on packaging, and banning tobacco advertising, promotion, and

sponsorship.

Since 2005, the FCTC has been ratified by 182 parties, but, as of 2018, only 62

countries had comprehensive smoke-free policies; 23 offered the full range of

cessation support services; 91 mandated pictorial health warnings; 48 had

comprehensive advertising, promotion, and sponsorship bans; and 38 had the

recommended level of tobacco taxation.

Tobacco taxation is a highly cost-effective measure, particularly when combined

with a progressive approach to redistributing revenue from taxation to tobacco

control programmes, health care, and other social support services. Decreasing

affordability is particularly effective in reducing smoking rates among young

people.

Between 2008 and 2018, the affordability of cigarettes decreased in only 33% of

low-income countries compared with 38% in middle-income countries and 72% of

high-income countries. Low-income and middle-income countries face the

additional challenge of population growth expanding their smoking population.

Despite this, only one low-income country, Madagascar, taxes tobacco at the

rate recommended by WHO.

As the tobacco industry innovates by leveraging social media, tobacco control

strategies must also evolve. Flavours may also play an important role in

attracting youth to tobacco, in particular with the emergence of e-cigarette

use. Banning all characterizing flavours, including menthol, across all

nicotine-containing products, including smoked tobacco products, smokeless

tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco products is a promising

approach to reducing demand among young people.

Most countries have their legal purchase age set at either 16 or 18, but three

quarters of smokers start by the age of 21. The authors point to encouraging

evidence from some studies showing the impact of increasing the legal purchase

age may have on smoking rates. Globally, the highest observed minimum age of

purchase at the national level is 21, with six countries (the USA, Uganda,

Honduras, Sri Lanka, Samoa, and Kuwait) at this benchmark.

Dr Vin Gupta, co-author, IHME, says: "Despite progress in some countries,

tobacco industry interference and waning political commitment have resulted in

a large and persistent gap between knowledge and action on global tobacco

control. Bans on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship must extend to

internet-based media, but only one in four countries have comprehensively

banned all forms of direct and indirect advertising. Despite the clear link to

youth initiation, fewer than 60 countries have enacted even partial flavour

bans on tobacco products. Closing these loopholes is critical to protecting

young people from the influence of the tobacco." [1]

Finally, the authors note limitations across the three studies, including that

data on tobacco use are self-reported, age of initiation may be subject to

recall bias, and the health effects of smoking do not include second hand

smoke. The analyses focus on smoking tobacco products and chewing tobacco

products and do not reflect e-cigarettes (and other electronic nicotine

delivery systems) or heated tobacco products.

In a linked Comment, Alan Blum and Ransome Eke, University of Alabama,

Tuscaloosa, USA (who were not involved in the study) write: "How to tackle the

global smoking pandemic has become a perpetual dilemma. Tobacco control—a term

adopted by 1990s academia to keep radical grassroots antismoking activism at

arm's length—remains mired in descriptive research that generates data to

support policies aimed at reducing smoking. However, unlike, for instance,

mosquito control, the vector—the tobacco industry—survives and thrives. And,

like a mutating virus, it adapts to legislative and regulatory attempts to

hinder the sale, promotion, and use of its products. Taxation or sin taxes are

not necessarily the most effective tobacco control policy, but to say so risks

derision. Cigarette taxes could be set high enough to crush the tobacco

industry, but no governments will go that far. They rely on this revenue for

deficit reduction and for things other than curbing smoking…. The tobacco

industry remains the foremost obstacle to tobacco control. State-owned

cigarette manufacturers— notably, the China tobacco monopoly in the world's

largest cigarette market—pose a daunting challenge to public health. The USA,

the UK, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, and Sweden, among other countries, also host

powerful tobacco companies… Any hope for ending the tobacco pandemic lies in

the commitment of every health professional to make smoking prevention, smoking

cessation, and relapse prevention a top priority."

NOTES TO EDITORS

The research was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation.

[1] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article.

Article on global trends in smoking tobacco (The Lancet)

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01169-7/fulltext

Article on youth initiation (The Lancet Public Health)

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00102-X/fulltext

Article on chewing tobacco (The Lancet Public Health)

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00065-7/fulltext

Source- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

CONTACT: Amelia Apfel, (206) 359-5111, arapfel@uw.edu