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NEUES
AUS DER MEDIZIN
Jeder
Kontakt zu Tabakrauch erhöht das Herzinfarktrisiko
Eine
weltweit in 52 Ländern durchgeführte Studie erbrachte
den Beweis dafür, daß jeder Kontakt mit Tabakrauch das
Risiko für Herzinfarkte stark erhöht. Das gilt beispielsweise
auch für die Nutzung von Wasserpfeifen sowie für Passivrauchen.
Die Wissenschaftler konnten beweisen, daß das Herzinfarktrisiko
direkt abhängig ist von der Zahl der täglich gerauchten
Zigaretten. Jede gerauchte Zigarette erhöht danach das
Herzinfarktrisiko um 5.6%.
Die
im Fachblatt The Lancet veröffentlichte Untersuchung
zeigt aber auch, daß es sich in jedem Alter lohnt mit
dem Rauchen aufzuhören. Bei Rauchern die pro
Tag nur wenige Zigaretten geraucht haben, ist das erhöhte
Herzinfarktrisiko bereits wenige Jahre nach dem Rauchstop
wieder normal.
All
tobacco exposure raises heart attack risk
A global study led by two Canadian researchers has shown
evidence that all tobacco exposure -- chewing, smoking
or second-hand smoke -- can lead to an increased risk
of heart attack.
Dr. Koon Teo, one of the authors, says because of the
magnitude of the study, he and colleagues from around
the world were able to confirm a lot of assumptions and
suspicions about the effect tobacco has on cardiovascular
health.
"(With this study) we included practically all the
regions of the world," he said in an interview Thursday.
"So we can say that the results apply to all ...
different types of people."
The study, published in the Lancet, was led by Teo and
Dr. Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.,
and includes data from over 27,000 people in 52 countries.
The study shows the risk of acute myocardial infarction
(AMI) or a heart attack was increased by exposure to tobacco
in all forms - including chewing tobacco and second hand
smoke.
The study also found an increased risk in those who smoke
beedies -- a small amount of tobacco wrapped in a dried
temburini leaf smoked in South Asia -- and sheesha, a
water pipe, as well as other forms of smoked and non-smoked
tobacco used around the world.
Teo said the results of the study are very important for
developing countries because most of the tobacco studies
to date have been based in Western nations, and 82 per
cent of the world's smokers live in the developing world
and don't feel the health warnings apply to them.
"(For example) the sheesha, that people smoke in
the Middle East mostly, they feel that ... through water,
it filters out the toxins," said Teo. "But we
found sheesha was just as bad in causing heart attacks."
But the results should not just apply to developing nations,
Teo said.
One result he said he cites to his patients in Canada
is that once a smoker quits, their
risk of a heart attack decreases steadily over time, depending
on how many cigarettes a person smoked per day.
"For people who smoke lighter, maybe up to 10 cigarettes
a day, after five years the risk is almost gone,"
said Teo.
"The risk they are suffering actually diminishes
very quickly so it's never too late to quit."
Colleen Norris, an epidemiologist and associate professor
at the University of Alberta, said the study is "really
outstanding work."
Norris -- a population health scholar in cardiovascular
disease with the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical
Research - said the current research on smoking and cardiovascular
health points to smoking as one cause of heart problems,
among many others.
"What's unique about this study, is it's taking away
all the other (risks associated with heart attacks) and
saying just by itself, this is what smoking is contributing,"
she said from Edmonton.
The discussion portion of the study states "the effect
of tobacco use on AMI risk was consistent in the presence
and absence of the other risk factors."
The study was funded by the Canadian Institute of Health
Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and
the International Clinical Epidemiology Network. It also
received support from various pharmaceutical companies
and organizations around the world.
The study also found that risk level
was related to the number of cigarettes smoked -- increasing
5.6 per cent for each cigarette smoked per day.
Teo said he hopes the results of this study will help
in developing nations, which he says are going through
what North America went through in the 1950s - when a
much higher percentage of the population smoked.
"If we can do something about getting people to quit
or not start, then hopefully they'll avoid that harm that
Western countries suffered about 50 years ago," he
said.
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