Public Awareness of Smoking’s Health Risks Shows Only Slight Improvement: Study

ISLAMABAD: A new international study has found that public awareness of the health risks associated with smoking has improved only marginally over the past two decades.

The study, which surveyed more than 240,000 smokers across 46 countries, found that most smokers are aware that tobacco use can cause lung cancer. However, awareness of other serious health risks, including heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, remains considerably lower.

Researchers also found that many people are not fully aware that exposure to second-hand smoke can increase the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes among others.

Published in the BMJ Open journal, the study said significant gaps in public knowledge about the major harms of smoking persist despite graphic health warnings, tobacco-control policies and years of public awareness campaigns.

Lead author Janet Chung-Hall, a scientist associated with the University of Waterloo’s International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, described the situation as concerning. She emphasized that inadequate awareness of the serious health consequences of smoking and second-hand smoke remains a major public health issue.

According to experts, more than two million deaths worldwide every year are linked to cardiovascular diseases caused by tobacco use.

The researchers stressed the need for more effective public awareness measures focused particularly on the impact of smoking on the heart and blood vessels, in addition to its well-known link with lung cancer.