Deaths that would be avoided with a tobacco-free generation

Banning the sale of tobacco products to people born after a specific year with the goal that they never start using it is known as the “tobacco-free generation.” This is a measure that has been applied or taken into consideration in various countries but, until now, a global estimate of the impact that an action of this type can have throughout the world has never been made. This estimate has now been made in a new study.

The research was carried out by a team led from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in Galicia, Spain, with the collaboration of the Center for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health Network (CIBERESP) in Spain, the International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) and other entities.

The research, which covers a total of 185 countries, is based on a hypothetical scenario in which tobacco consumption would be prohibited for the population born between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010, assuming that the action was applied perfectly. .

The results of the study indicate that the number of lives that would be saved in the world exceeds the million barrier, reaching 1.2 million, which means avoiding 40.2% of all deaths from lung cancer, in people born in that five-year period, until 2095. A greater number of deaths from lung cancer would be avoided in men (45.8% of total deaths) than in women (30.9% of the total).

By region, the highest percentage of deaths is recorded in Western Europe (73.6%). In men, more deaths would be avoided in the Central and Eastern Europe region (74.3%) and, in the case of women, in Western Europe (77.7%). “Although globally, the percentage of preventable deaths from lung cancer is higher in men, in some regions of North America, Europe and Australia and New Zealand this percentage is higher in women,” explains the research team at USC. It is made up of faculty from the area of ​​Preventive Medicine and Public Health. They are Julia Rey Brandariz (first author), Mónica Pérez Ríos and Alberto Ruano Raviña, also coordinator of Epidemiology of the Spanish Lung Cancer Group and CIBERESP. The team highlights that, in Spain, 21,900 deaths would be avoided, of which 11,600 correspond to men and 10,300 to women. “This would mean avoiding 71.9% and 73.1% of the predicted lung cancer deaths in men and women, respectively,” they explain.

A cigarette. (Photo: Amazings/NCYT)

The tobacco-free generation is a measure that is part of a strategy known as “tobacco endgame” that seeks to drastically end the tobacco epidemic. New Zealand was a pioneer in implementing this measure by prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to people born on or after January 1, 2009, but a change of government withdrew this measure. In the United Kingdom, the ban on the sale of tobacco to people born on or after January 1, 2009 is being considered for implementation in 2027. Measures similar to the tobacco-free generation were previously applied in cities in the United States and the Philippines .

Although the study is the simulation of the application of a tobacco-free generation, this research team also recently confirmed, in the Spanish Journal of Cardiology, that tobacco consumption causes around 54,000 deaths annually in Spain and, in Archivos de Bronconeumología , that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke causes 750 deaths annually. “These data are feeding future legislative changes in our country,” they emphasize, since tobacco consumption is the main cause of preventable death in chronic diseases. “It is essential to continue reinforcing and applying tobacco control measures that contribute to reducing the impact of tobacco consumption on mortality from lung cancer, as well as more than 20 diseases related to its consumption,” they conclude.

The study is titled “Estimated impact of a tobacco-elimination strategy on lung-cancer mortality in 185 countries: a population-based birth-cohort simulation study”, and has been published in the academic journal Lancet Public Health. (Source: USC / CIBER)