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BOSTON (Reuters Health) - People as young as 15 years old who smoke are at increased risk of death from injuries, accidents, suicides and homicides, Dr. Bruce N. Leistikow told participants of the 128th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association held here recently. "It's clear there are differences in outcomes already in young, healthy populations," Leistikow, of the University of California at Davis, told Reuters Health. Data were drawn from a national 1993 survey. After taking into consideration alcohol use, drug use, marital status and education, smokers aged 15 to 19 years were twice as likely to die from an injury, 1.4 times as likely to die from homicide, and 4.5 times as likely to commit suicide. Leistikow speculated that part of the association may be due to the addiction process itself. "The definition of addiction is that you engage in self-injurious behavior," he said, which may extend to putting oneself in harm's way. He also suggested that "smoking debilitates people, weakens their bodies so that they're less able to dodge accidents, and less able to recover from accidents that do happen." The poisonous effects of nicotine may also be implicated, Leistikow said. "Nicotine is used to fumigate greenhouses. But when it's used as an insecticide, it has all these warnings on it, which is very different than when it is sold as a cigarette." Leistikow noted that this is the first study showing an elevated risk of fatalities in young smokers. |
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Last modified: March 30, 2007 |
