Tobacco.org

• Teens Girls Smoke Now, Pay Later With Larger Waistlines As Adults 

Remember the cool girls, huddled together in high school restrooms, puffing their cigarettes? Well, here's consolation for the nerds in the crowd: Those teen smokers are more likely to experience obesity as adults, according to a new study from Finland.

Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than nonsmokers' waists are as young adults, according to the study in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

But smoking in adolescence did not necessarily predict weight problems for men, according to the study.

Scientists know a correlation exists between women's weight and smoking, said lead study author Suoma Saarni, a researcher with the Department of Public Health in Helsinki.

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• Anti-Smoking Working Group Hands in Report  

A government working group considering amendments to the Tobacco Act handed in its report to Health and Social Services Minister, Paula Risikko on Thursday. The report includes proposals for tightening tobacco legislation and introducing anti-smoking programmes.

The report pays particular attention to measures to reduce smoking among young people by changing tobacco laws. Parliament’s Social Affairs and Health Committee has reviewed the existing legislation, with a view to making it possible to impose fines and prison sentences on persons found to guilty of selling tobacco products to under aged persons. The work of the Committee has been led by Justice Minister Tuija Brax.

The working group proposals are part of a blanket agreement on WHO anti-smoking programmes as well as the implementation of an EU directive on the issue.

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UPDATE: Finnish working group proposes total snuff ban  

A Finnish government working group on Thursday proposed a number of amendments in the Act on Measures to Restrict Tobacco Smoking, including a ban on passenger imports of moist snuff.

Under Finland's current legislation passengers are allowed to import snuff from Sweden, the only EU country where the product can be sold, for private use.

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• Finns mull ban on candy cigarettes 

Finland's government is considering a ban on candy cigarettes and licorice pipes to discourage young people from smoking the real thing.

The Health Ministry received a study Thursday that proposes outlawing sales of candy in the shape of tobacco products. Ireland banned candy cigarettes in 2007.

The Finnish proposals also suggest banning chewing tobacco and snuff completely and making it illegal for adults to buy tobacco products for people under 18.

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• Teen smokers looking at adult obesity 

TEENAGE girls who smoke more than double their chance of becoming obese in adulthood, according to a study hailed by Australia's Quit organisation as a myth-buster.

The research also found girls who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day in their teens went on to have waists measuring about 3.5cm larger than non-smokers when they reached their 20s.

Victoria-based Quit Support Programs manager Luke Atkin said the finding was important as many young women still drew a favourable association between smoking and thinness - despite the dire health warnings.

"This study shows smoking as a teen could actually increase your chances of obesity when you are in your 20s," Mr Atkin said.

"For decades the tobacco industry has pushed the idea that smoking somehow equates to being fashionable or glamorous but as this study shows, a teen girl who smokes could be on a fast track to obesity.

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For decades the tobacco industry has pushed the idea that smoking somehow equates to being fashionable or glamorous but as this study shows, a teen girl who smokes could be on a fast track to obesity.
Victoria-based Quit Support Programs manager Luke Atkin, on the recent Finnish study.

Association of Smoking in Adolescence With Abdominal Obesity in Adulthood: A Follow-Up Study of 5 Birth Cohorts of Finnish Twins  

Conclusions. Smoking is a risk factor for abdominal obesity among both genders and for overweight in women. The prevention of smoking during adolescence may play an important role in promoting healthy weight and in decreasing the morbidity related to abdominal obesity.

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• Teens Girls Smoke Now, Pay Later With Larger Waistlines as Adults  

Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than nonsmokers’ waists are as young adults, according to the study in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

But smoking in adolescence did not necessarily predict weight problems for men, according to the study.

Scientists know a correlation exists between women’s weight and smoking, said lead study author Suoma Saarni, a researcher with the Department of Public Health in Helsinki. However, she added, “We do not know why smoking did not affect men’s weight, as we do not know why smoking affected women’s weight.”

The study followed twins born between 1975 and 1979

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Proteomics of Human Lung Tissue Identifies Surfactant Protein A as a Marker of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease  

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a lung disease related to smoking, is one of the leading causes of chronic morbidity and mortality around the world. One goal in COPD research is the identification of biomarkers for early diagnosis of the disease. Here, we sought COPD-specific changes in the proteome from human lung tissue. This revealed increased levels of surfactant protein A (SP-A) in COPD but not in the normal or fibrotic lung. The results were confirmed by immunohistochemistry, morphometry and Western blotting. Furthermore, elevated SP-A protein levels were detected from the induced sputum supernatants of COPD patients. The levels of other surfactant proteins (SP-B, SP-C, SP-D) were not altered. Our results suggest that SP-A is linked to the pathogenesis of COPD and could be considered as a potential COPD biomarker.

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Advance Toward Early Diagnosis Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease 

Researchers in Finland are reporting identification of the first potential "biomarker" that could be used in development of a sputum test for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). That condition, which causes severe difficulty in breathing - most often in cigarette smokers - affects 12 million people in the United States.

In an article scheduled for the December 5 issue of ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication, Vuokko L. Kinnula and colleagues point out that no disease marker for COPD currently exists, despite extensive efforts by scientists to find one. Past research pointed to a prime candidate - surfactant protein A (SP-A), which has a major role in fighting infections and inflammation in the lung.

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Early-onset depressive disorders predict the use of addictive substances in adolescence: a prospective study of adolescent Finnish twins  

Conclusions

Our results suggest important predictive associations between early-onset depressive disorders and addictive substance use, and these associations appear to be independent of shared familial influences.

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• Early-onset Depressive Disorders Predict The Use Of Addictive Substances In Adolescence 

In a prospective study of over 1800 interviewed young Finnish twins, early-onset depressive disorders at age 14 significantly predicted daily smoking, smokeless tobacco use, frequent illicit drug use, frequent alcohol use and recurrent intoxication three years later, even among those adolescents who were not users at baseline.

Analysis of twins discordant for early-onset depressive disorders confirm predictive associations of early-onset depressive disorders with smokeless tobacco use and frequent drinking at age 17½, in within-family replications with co-twins matched on half or all their segregating genes, and on their family structure, socio-economic status, and household environment.

"The findings of this large population-based study emphasize the importance of early-onset depressive disorders in developmental trajectories of substance use", says researcher Elina Hakola, University of Helsinki, Finland. Analyses that control for shared genetic and familial background factors suggest that influences other than family environments, for example, the influence of peers or dispositional personality traits on health-adversing behaviors in adolescence may also be of importance in this association.

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The Effect of Smoking in Midlife on Health-Related Quality of Life in Old Age: A 26-Year Prospective Study 

Conclusions

During the 26-year follow-up of this socioeconomically homogeneous male cohort, HRQoL deteriorated with an increase in daily cigarettes smoked in a dose-dependent manner. Never-smokers lived longer than heavy smokers, and their extra years were of better quality.

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Quality Of Life In Older Age Negatively Impacted By Smoking During Younger Years 

As individuals increase the number of cigarettes smoked per day, health-related quality of life tends to deteriorate, according to a study published in the October issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers also found that health-related quality of life decreased even in people who eventually quit smoking.

Previous studies have shown that smoking can reduce a man's life by seven to 10 years. In addition, the activity has been associated with poorer nutrition, lower socioeconomic status, and other factors that can reduce quality of life.

To investigate smoking's effects on quality of life, Arto Y. Strandberg, M.D. (University of Helsinki) and colleagues studied 1,658 white men who were born between 1919 and 1934. The men were considered healthy during an assessment in 1974 and received follow-up surveys in 2000 that asked about their current smoking status, health, and quality of life. The researchers used the Finnish national register to track deaths in the sample.

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Medical News: Smoking Takes the Joy Out of Life 

Non-smokers not only live longer, but also enjoy a better quality of life than smokers, according to a long-term cohort study.

Action Points

* Explain to interested patients that this study found that non-smokers live longer and have a better health-related quality of life than smokers.

* Point out that the results came from a study of white, middle-age men and may not be generalizable to other populations.

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Smoking Makes You Old Before Your Time 

now Finnish researchers report that men who smoke not only die younger but they have a poorer quality of life than those who never smoked.

This deterioration in quality of life continues even after quitting. In fact, heavy smokers typically have the health-related quality of life of someone 10 years older than themselves, the researchers said.

"An especially large negative effect was seen for heavy smokers [more than 20 cigarettes daily], who lost about 10 years of their life expectancy, and those who survived experienced a significant decline in their quality of life," said lead researcher Dr. Arto Y. Strandberg, from the University of Helsinki.

The report was published in the Oct. 13 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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