The largest ever study of smoking in the Asia Pacific Region, and one of the largest smoking studies ever conducted anywhere in the world, has dispelled a long-held myth that smokers in Asian populations are less susceptible than Western populations to the risks of smoking, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.

A paper from the George Institute for International Health on the outcomes of the study, due to be published shortly in the International Journal of Epidemiology, notes that the belief amongst Asian countries that smoking is less harmful to them than to Caucasian populations may contribute to the high prevalence of smoking in Asian countries, the low quitting rates amongst Asian male smokers, and the spread of smoking among Asian women.

Prof. Mark Woodward, Director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the George Institute, who lead the study, points out that "the study, which involved data analysis of almost 500,000 Asians and 100,000 Australasians, shows that smoking poses the same risks to Asian men (and an even greater risk to Asian women) as compared to Western populations. The study also makes clear that there are real benefits to be gained, in terms of huge numbers of lives to be saved, by effectively implementing campaigns in Asia to quit smoking."

"This is particularly so amongst women, where use of tobacco is still spreading worldwide and for whom smoking has the greatest detrimental impact. Therefore, any anti tobacco campaigns in Asia should include messages specifically targeted at women," said Prof. Woodward

Importantly, the study also showed that smoking is an independent risk factor for haemorrhagic stroke, the most common type of stroke in Asia and more likely than ischaemic stroke to lead to death within a short period. The large numbers of individuals included in the study make the overall estimates of the relative effects of smoking more precise than those in most previous studies. The resu
'"/>

Contact: Paul Davies
61-299-934-510
Research Australia
20-Sep-2005

Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Largest ever grant for University of Copenhagenhagen
2. Largest review of Loeys-Dietz Syndrome to date
3. Largest study of in-hospital cardiac arrest suggests how to improve outcomes for children and adults
4. Largest survey on depression suggests higher prevalence in U.S., reports Mailman school
5. Largest single-institution study demonstrates Mammosite is a safe breast cancer treatment
6. Largest study of unrelated bone marrow transplantation for leukemia serves as benchmark
7. Largest study to date reveals baseline findings for flexible sigmoidoscopy
8. Largest NIH grant for NYU will create research network in dental practices
9. Conventional prognostic factors fail to explain better prostate cancer survival in most Asian men
10. RAND study finds adolescent Asian immigrants improve their good health habits over time
11. Obesity a growing problem in the Indo-Asian population