Although it may seem like a very hackneyed phrase, tobacco kills. Specifically, 8 million people in the world each year —63,000 in Spain. Despite this, 1.3 billion people on the planet—9.5 million in Spain—consume tobacco products (cigarettes and vapes), of which 37 million (2.8%) are young people between 13 and 15 years old.
The Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE) recalls that 21% of the 63,000 people who die prematurely each year in Spain due to the consumption of tobacco products have not reached the age of 65. Smoking specialists emphasize the dangers of tobacco and the need to offer help to smokers and take measures to encourage them to quit this habit, which is also linked to the risk of developing numerous diseases, as recalled by the coordinator of the Health Area. Smoking of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (Separ), Carlos Rábade, pulmonologist at the Santiago University Hospital Complex (CHUS).
“Tobacco is a cause or aggravating factor of respiratory diseases and smokers have double the risk of having cardiovascular disease and stroke, but, in addition, 30% of malignant tumors of any type of cancer are caused by tobacco,” comments.
With the aim of informing and raising awareness about the harmful and lethal effects of consuming this product and passive exposure to smoke, the World Health Organization (WHO) commemorates World No Tobacco Day every May 31. And for the world organization, smoking is one of the greatest threats to public health that humanity has ever had to face.
The WHO points out that tobacco consumption is harmful in all its forms and that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. Smoking cigarettes is the most widespread form of consumption throughout the planet, but there are other modalities: the water pipe or hookah, cigars, cigarillos, heated tobacco, rolling tobacco, chopped tobacco, bidis and kreteks. , vapes, and smokeless tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco. In addition, remember that about 65,000 minors die each year from diseases related to exposure to tobacco smoke.
Elisardo Becoña, director of the Smoking and Addictive Disorders Unit of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Santiago (USC) and professor of Clinical Psychology, is committed to adopting more restrictive measures, starting with the price of tobacco products, to gain the battle against tobacco.
“We still have important steps to take, such as significantly increasing the price of tobacco, increasing public areas where smoking is not allowed; improve prevention in schools, and facilitate effective treatments to quit smoking, such as, for example, psychological ones, which today are the first choice, but which are not offered by the public health system,” says the psychologist.
Adherence
The Smoking and Addictive Disorders Unit of the USC Faculty of Psychology has been studying how to improve smokers’ adherence to treatments for almost forty years, something that is essential to guarantee a good result. “If this is high, the effectiveness improves and is also high. This is one of the most important results we have obtained in our study,” he says.
Due to the measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, this unit had to adapt the psychological treatment to the video call format as it could not continue doing it in person as up to that point. To do this, they developed an application to improve the effectiveness of psychological care for patients and reduce relapses.
Thus, the smoker followed the treatment online from home, which allowed their adherence to improve, so that seven out of ten smokers managed to say goodbye to this bad habit.
“The treatment developed through video calls improves adherence. Good therapeutic management, following patients through the application and allowing them to use it whenever they want are behind these good results. Clearly, this treatment is easier for them to carry out,” comments the psychologist.
As for why some smokers fail in their attempt to quit tobacco despite trying repeatedly while others succeed on the first try, Becoña explains that it depends on different factors. “The fundamental reason that prevents this is the high level of dependence, together with the low motivation and the erroneous beliefs they have about quitting smoking, frequently refusing to receive adequate therapeutic help,” he explains.
On the contrary, the diagnosis of a disease due to tobacco use can cause that same person to quit cold turkey. In any case, Becoña encourages the smoker to keep trying and if he cannot achieve it on his own, he should ask for professional help.
In these four decades of experience, the Smoking and Addictive Disorders Unit of the USC Faculty of Psychology has treated more than 17,000 smokers with more than encouraging results, which confirms that quitting is possible. “Many thousands have stopped smoking with our help and have remained smoke-free since. By having treated so many smokers, we have helped them gain many thousands of years of life,” comments the psychologist.
In order to maintain its business niche, the tobacco industry is looking for new formulas to maintain the loyalty of smokers and attract new ones: light cigarettes, flavored cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and, more recently, vapes. Becoña remembers that the latter are not at all harmless. Quite the opposite.
“Vaping devices contain nicotine. They have significant health risks that the industry ignores, apart from the fact that many young people start them and end up smoking cigarettes later. Therefore, they should be regulated like just another tobacco product,” says the expert.
Protect children from the tobacco industry
The Galician pulmonologist Carlos Rábade will be one of the specialists who will participate next Friday in the webinar Quitting Smoking is Possible organized by Esteve Teijin, which will also include Raúl Pérez, doctor in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Zaragoza and medical advisor of this company (a joint venture between the pharmaceutical company Esteve Healthcare and the Japanese technology company Teijin) for more than a decade; and the physiotherapist Silvia Martínez. The theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day is Protecting children from the interference of the tobacco industry. And 65,000 boys and girls die annually from diseases related to second-hand tobacco smoke. Furthermore, in the WHO European Region, 11.5% of boys and 10.1% of girls aged 13 to 15 years use tobacco (4 million). Likewise, products such as electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches are gaining popularity among younger people. The WHO estimates that 12.5% of adolescents in Europe used these e-cigarettes in 2022, compared to 2% of adults. Regarding these devices, experts remember that recent studies have shown that vaping is very harmful to health and has a similar impact on respiratory diseases as conventional cigarettes. “Minors are unprotected against the false safety messages of vapers,” says the CHUS pulmonologist. For this reason, the pulmonologist advocates regulating this product. “The absence of regulation regarding these devices favors access to them as a recreational product for children, without taking into account the toxic effects they cause in the short, medium and long term,” he says.