Smoking

The study, published in NEJM Evidence, shows that smokers who quit smoking before age 40 can expect to live almost as long as those who never smoked. Those who quit at any age return close to never-smoker survival 10 years after quitting, and about half that benefit occurs within just three years.

Prabhat Jha (photo courtesy of the Centre for Global Health Research)

“Quitting smoking is ridiculously effective in reducing the risk of death and people can reap those rewards remarkably quickly,” said Prabhat Jha, executive director of the Centre for Global Health Research at Unity Health Toronto and a professor at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

The observational study included 1.5 million adults in four countries (the U.S., U.K., Canada and Norway), followed over 15 years. Smokers between the ages of 40 and 79 had an almost three-fold risk of dying compared to those who never smoked, meaning on average they lost 12 to 13 years of life.

Former smokers lowered their risk of death to 1.3-fold (or 30 per cent higher) compared to never smokers. Stopping smoking at any age was associated with longer survival, and even those who quit for less than three years gained up to six years in life expectancy.

“Many people think it’s too late to quit smoking, especially in middle age,” said Jha. “But these results counter that line of thought. It’s never too late, the impact is fast and you can reduce risk across major diseases, meaning a longer and better quality of life.”

In particular, the researchers found that quitting smoking reduced the risk of dying from vascular disease and cancer. Former smokers also reduced their risk of death from respiratory disease, but slightly less so – likely due to residual lung damage.

There are currently about 60 million smokers in the four countries involved in the study and over a billion worldwide. The global rate of smoking has fallen by more than 25 per cent since 1990, but tobacco is still a leading cause of preventable death.

Jha said the findings should add urgency to efforts by governments to support people who want to stop smoking.

“Helping smokers quit is one of most effective ways to substantially improve health. And we know how to do that, by raising taxes on cigarettes and improving cessation supports.”

Canada is long overdue for an increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, and many other countries could lower smoking rates by raising taxes, Jha said. Cessation supports can include clinical guidelines and patient resources such as helplines, but also a whole-health-system approach.

“When smokers interact with the health-care system in any way, physicians and health professionals can encourage them to quit, pointing out how well quitting works,” Jha said. “This can be done with concern and without judgement or stigma, recognizing that cigarettes are engineered to be highly addictive.”

The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

U of T researchers receive $4 million in federal funding to help curb smoking, vaping

geoff.vendeville — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 02:43:50 +0000

U of T researchers receive $4 million in federal funding to help curb smoking, vaping

geoff.vendeville Tue, 01/21/2020 - 21:43

Cutline

Julie Dabrusin, MP for Toronto-Danforth and a U of T alumna, was at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Tuesday as the federal government announced plans to invest in U of T-led smoking and vaping cessation initiatives (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

LGBTQ

Smoking

The federal government is investing more than $4 million in two ��Ƶ-led projects that tackle what one expert calls “old and new nicotine problems.”

The first project, which will receive up to $2.8 million, focuses on higher-than-average smoking rates among the LGBTQ community. The second project aims to curb vaping among youth and young adults and will receive $1.3 million over three years.

Robert Schwartz, a professor at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said the prevalence of vaping appears to have undone progress toward getting people to quit nicotine.

“It's astonishing that we have this new nicotine problem – really astonishing that, in 2020, we're dealing with what appears to be a whole new generation of young people who have become addicted to nicotine,” said Schwartz at an event held at Dalla Lana that was attended by Julie Dabrusin, the MP for Toronto-Danforth and a U of T alumna.

The funding announcements were timed to coincide with National Non-Smoking Week. “I want to encourage the thousands of Canadians who will take their first steps toward quitting smoking,” Patty Hajdu, the federal health minister, said in a statement. “The projects we are supporting today ... will better help them as they make this positive change in their lives – and encourage others to follow in the same footsteps.”

The U of T-based Ontario Tobacco Research Unit’s $1.3 million in funding over three years will support a project to help people between the ages of 16 and 29 kick their vaping habit.

While e-cigarettes and other devices have been touted as important smoking cessation tools, there's little doubt vaping has also proven popular among people. Among students in Grade 7 to 12, a full 34 per cent said they have tried vaping while 20 per cent had used a vaping product in the last 30 days, according to a 2017 Health Canada survey – a trend Schwartz, the executive director of the tobacco research unit, described as an “epidemic.”

Research shows that kids who vape have almost twice the rates of cough and wheeze than kids who don't – signs that are potential precursors of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Schwartz said. Other studies suggest cardiovascular effects, while some chemicals in e-cigarettes are carcinogenic, he added.

“Even those [experts] who favour vaping for smoking cessation generally agree that if you are not a smoker you should not vape. None that I know would want their kids to vape,” he told U of T News.

The anti-vaping project at U of T, which became a smoke-free campus last year, will seek to understand how young people become addicted to nicotine and what can be done to stop them from vaping through effective cessation supports.

The project complements new regulations around vaping coming into effect in July around the advertising and promotion of vaping products, Dabrusin said at the U of T event.

The federal funding is part of Canada's tobacco strategy, which aims to reduce the smoking rate to less than five per cent by 2035. Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of disease and mortality in the country and causes 45,000 deaths per year in Canada.

Robert Schwartz, a Dalla Lana professor and the executive director of the U of T-based Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, said “we're dealing with ... a whole new generation of young people who have become addicted to nicotine” (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

The second project involving U of T researchers – called All Together Now! – will use its grant of up to $2.8 million to address higher-than-average smoking rates among LGBTQ communities in Toronto, Thunder Bay and Montreal. One 2012 paper in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, for example, suggested the smoking rate among Toronto’s LGBTTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender and queer) community was 36 per cent, compared to just 19 percent among the general population.

Schwartz attributes the difference to the relationship between the “three Ss” – stigma, stress and smoking. The theory goes that, as LGBTQ people face stigma, they experience greater stress and turn to tobacco in higher numbers.

“We need to break the myth that nicotine actually reduces stress,” Schwartz said. “It does not. The opposite is true and it's been found in many studies and we need to make this clear to all these communities.”

The researchers will partner with the Canadian Cancer Society, Egale Canada and members of the LGBTQ community in each of the three cities to reach an estimated 114,000 smokers.

One of the first steps in the project will be to conduct focus groups and interviews to develop a strategy on how to reach smokers in those communities and help them quit. The researchers will target smokers via social media and work with local influencers. They also expect to create online resources and offer LGBTQ-friendly smoking cessation programming such as free nicotine replacement therapy.

“We don’t know yet, but it may be that there have been barriers to using these services because of stigma,” Schwartz said.

U of T research reveals why nicotine initially feels disgusting, could help smokers quit

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 20:24:29 +0000

U of T research reveals why nicotine initially feels disgusting, could help smokers quit

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 11/26/2019 - 15:24

Cutline

U of T researchers hope the discovery of the brain mechanism behind nicotine aversion opens the door to finding a more effective treatment for smokers (photo by JGI/Tom Grill via Getty Images)

Jovana Drinjakovic

Topic

Breaking Research

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Faculty of Medicine

Research & Innovation

Smoking

Taryn Grieder has a personal interest in understanding why people continue to smoke despite the initial revulsion and countless health risks.

“In my family we have six people and five of us – everyone but me – smoke, or at least they did smoke,” says Grieder, a research associate and neuroscience lecturer at the ��Ƶ who lost her dad prematurely to smoking.

Grieder has been investigating nicotine addiction for more than a decade – first as a doctoral student and now as a staff scientist in Professor Derek van der Kooy’s lab in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.

Now, her research has now identified the elusive brain cells responsible for nicotine aversion – many people initially find smoking a cigarette disgusting – raising hopes that they could be harnessed to develop new treatments to help smokers quit.

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists have long known that nicotine has a dual effect on the brain, stimulating both pleasure and aversion. It was thought that the opposing effects came from nicotine activating its receptors in different parts of the brain.

But Grieder found that both reward and aversion are sensed by two different populations of brain cells, or neurons, residing in the same area: the ventral tegmental area, or VTA, which is a key player in the brain’s reward system.

“Now we know that nicotine hits different populations of neurons in the same area, from which neurons project to the different brain regions,” says Grieder, who also teaches neuropsychology at U of T and other universities.

When someone smokes for the first time, the nicotine will target all its receptors in the VTA to stimulate both pleasure and aversion. But if the person continues to smoke, their brain will change.

“Aversion should be there all the time, but the more someone smokes, they’re going to have changes in the amounts of the receptors and in the signaling processes in the brain reward system,” says Grieder.

Taryn Grieder, a research associate and neuroscience lecturer at U of T, hopes the discovery of the brain mechanism behind nicotine aversion, provided it is similar in humans, will open the door to finding a more effective treatment for smokers (photo by Jovana Drinjakovic)

Smoking is complex and influenced by many factors. Some people find the first cigarette rewarding if they are under stress, for example, which Grieder’s previous research suggests is thanks to nicotine’s ability to reduce the negative effects of stress. Others may find smoking more pleasurable when they are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs because their reward signalling is already heightened so that nicotine aversion becomes less significant.

Read about Grieder’s previous research on nicotine addiction and stress

Although the two cell populations are intermingled in the VTA, the researchers were able to separate them with a genetic trick. They took advantage of a mouse strain with no nicotine receptors. These animals show neither reward nor aversion when exposed to nicotine.

They infected the mice with viruses that were engineered to carry and reintroduce nicotine receptors into one of the two main types of neurons in the VTA – dopamine or GABA neurons, named after the neurotransmitter chemical that they release. The mice were next exposed to doses of nicotine comparable to heavy smoking in a standard behavioral test that measures the rewarding or aversive effects of drugs.

The data revealed that the dopamine neurons in the VTA are responsible for aversion, whereas the GABA neurons signal reward in these animals. The finding is at odds with the accepted thinking in which dopamine is always the main reward signal.

The difference, Grieder says, is down to whether or not the animals are dependent on nicotine. While the dopamine neurons are responsible for aversion in non-dependent animals, they signal both reward and the aversion of withdrawal once dependence takes hold. What was once pleasurable becomes a necessity to keep supplying the brain with nicotine.

“When you make the switch to addiction there’s a switch in the brain’s motivational system,” says Grieder. “It’s not about getting the good feeling anymore – it’s about relieving the bad feelings of not having enough drug in the system.”

Grieder hopes the discovery of the brain mechanism behind nicotine aversion, provided it is similar in humans, will open the door to finding a more effective treatment for smokers who want to quit. Currently, there’s only nicotine replacement therapy, in which smokers are gradually weaned off nicotine – with moderate success.

Grieder suggests that a new treatment based on her research would be similar to Antabuse, a drug that causes severe nausea when taken with alcohol to deter alcoholics from drinking.

“When someone decides to smoke, if we could give them something that only makes nicotine aversive, then I think we could help them quit much more easily,” says Grieder.

The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

'We need a more comprehensive approach': U of T’s Robert Schwartz on the rise of vaping, risks and regulation

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 15:49:16 +0000

'We need a more comprehensive approach': U of T’s Robert Schwartz on the rise of vaping, risks and regulation

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 11/11/2019 - 10:49

Cutline

Scores of young people, many of whom have never smoked before, are using vaping devices despite physicians who have linked e-cigarette use to serious lung illnesses (photo by Guillem Sartorio/AFP via Getty Images)

Rebecca Biason

Topic

Our Community

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Health

Smoking

The use of e-cigarettes, commonly known as vaping, is on the rise and is increasingly popular among young Canadians.

The growing trend is concerning to researchers like Robert Schwartz, a professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the ��Ƶ’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

He studies tobacco control and smoking cessation as executive director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.

“Anyone who has never smoked cigarettes should not pick up vaping,” says Schwartz. “Our lungs are not designed to deal with inhaling aerosols or smoke and that includes the vapour in vape products.”

Yet, scores of young people, many of whom have never smoked before, are using vaping devices. At the same time, physicians in the United States have linked e-cigarette use to a serious lung illness, throwing vaping and its regulation here in Canada into the spotlight.

Schwartz recently spoke with IHPME’s Rebecca Biason about the risks of vaping and prevention strategies, including the province’s recent advertising restriction on vaping products in convenience stores.

Robert Schwartz, a professor at U of T’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the ��Ƶ’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, says advertising is playing a significant role in exposing youth to vaping products (photo courtesy of IHPME)

What are the risks of vaping, and why do you think it has become such a trend?

It is cool to vape. It looks cool to blow clouds and the vaping devices look trendy. But what people should remember is that the nicotine which is in the vaping products remains highly addictive.

Advertising also plays a significant role in youth exposure to vaping products. The Ontario Tobacco Research Unit recently conducted a study that found almost all youth, aged 16 to 24, who were surveyed had been exposed to advertisements of vaping products – either through social media or within convenience stores.

And we know that advertising works. We don’t need more studies to prove that.

Some individuals may not think that inhaling e-cigarette vapour is dangerous as they think that it is just water vapour. But that lack of understanding of what is inhaled – including small particulate matter, vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, flavouring agents and nicotine – can lead consumers to believe it is better for them or not as harmful.

A recent systematic review shows that we don’t even yet know if vaping is less risky than smoking in regards to respiratory disease, and there is evidence to suggest that long-term use of e-cigarettes leads to chronic diseases. Among young people, we are finding that rates of coughing and wheezing are higher among those who vape versus those who don’t, and that’s another indicator for respiratory illness and other conditions down the line, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Have we done enough to prevent young people from taking up vaping?

No, I don’t think we have. Allowing advertising in the first place has been a big mistake on the part of our government. They likely did allow unregulated advertising because they thought smokers might be encouraged to stop smoking and vape instead.

But the ads we’ve all seen plastered around train stations, on bus shelters or elsewhere do not just target current smokers. They are appealing to young people.

Vaping flavours are a completely different issue. There are thousands of flavours from cotton candy to crème brûlée – all of which are popular with youth who are vaping. While there are calls to ban certain flavours, we need to be careful not to just ban all flavours because there are still adults using them who vape to quit smoking.

How might the recent push for advertising bans make a difference?

The recent advertising restrictions are provincial and apply only to advertising in convenience stores. This is because convenience stores selling e-cigarettes are the only places where the province believes they have jurisdiction to impose such a ban. However, Quebec has banned ads for e-cigarettes everywhere, so it is certainly possible for the province to go further.

There are currently more restrictions on cannabis advertising than on e-cigarettes and that has to change. There is also a tendency to use a harm reduction approach when making decisions on advertising restrictions. For example, assuming cigarettes are more harmful then e-cigarettes makes it okay to advertise one versus the other – and I just don’t buy that. It would make much more sense to put an insert into the packets of cigarette cartons or – even better – coupons for e-cigarettes if the goal is really to target and convert smokers only.

Right now, it is hard to see that advertising bans will have a major effect. The train has already left the station. But we need a more comprehensive approach. This would include banning all ads, promoting restrictions on nicotine concentration and flavours along with public education on the risks of vaping and an increase in price to [discourage] the youth market.

We can’t lose focus on the need to curb cigarette smoking. In 2019, it is still an issue that one in five Canadians continues to use tobacco.

U of T researcher argues for age restriction for movies that depict smoking: CBC Radio

perry.king — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 17:46:18 +0000

U of T researcher argues for age restriction for movies that depict smoking: CBC Radio

perry.king Thu, 08/01/2019 - 13:46

Cutline

"This isn’t about censorship, it’s about protecting kids," says U of T's Robert Schwartz (photo by Dalla Lana School of Public Health)

Topic

City & Culture

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Film

Smoking

Following a report he co-authored that outlined the prevalence of smoking in top-grossing movies, the ��Ƶ’s Robert Schwartz is advocating that those films receive an 18A rating so that kids can’t see them.

In an interview on CBC Radio's Metro Morning, Schwartz, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, said people aged 22 and younger are viewed as more impressionable than other groups and the most likely group to take up smoking. With bans on marketing tobacco products, he said movies are one of the few places, other than in-person experiences, where smoking is common – over half of movies screened in Ontario show smoking and 90 per cent of those movies are rated for young people.

“The recommendation isn’t to get rid of all smoking in movies," Schwartz said. "This isn’t about censorship, it’s about protecting kids.”

The report estimates that in Ontario, exposure to on-screen smoking will encourage 185,000 youth aged 17 or younger to become smokers – resulting in $1.1 billion in additional health-care costs over their lifetimes.

Listen to Schwartz on CBC Radio

U of T researchers show kids widely exposed to smoking in movies

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 19:09:57 +0000

U of T researchers show kids widely exposed to smoking in movies

noreen.rasbach Wed, 07/24/2019 - 15:09

Cutline

(photo by Getty Images)

Heidi Singer

Topic

Breaking Research

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Film

Research & Innovation

Smoking

More than half of the top-grossing movies in Ontario in the past 16 years featured smoking, according to ��Ƶ researchers with the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit – and most of these films were rated as acceptable for youth.

Since 2002, Adult Accompaniment (AA) or 14A rated movies have delivered 5.7 billion tobacco images to Ontario moviegoers – three times as many as 18A or R-rated movies delivered in the same period, according to the report released this week.

The report’s authors estimate that exposure to on-screen smoking will encourage 185,000 youth 17 or younger to become smokers, resulting in $1.1 billion in additional health-care costs over their lifetimes.

“In fact, these estimates may understate the impact of movie smoking on Ontario kids,” said Robert Schwartz, a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Schwartz, who is also director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, said most movies rated R in the U.S. – meaning they are prohibited to under-18 youth without a guardian – are rated acceptable for youth by the Ontario Film Review Board. These movies are more likely to contain smoking.

Movies are a powerful vehicle for promoting tobacco use. The tobacco industry has a well-documented history of collaboration with Hollywood to promote smoking in movies -- including payment for the placement of tobacco products in movies.

“A substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that exposure to smoking in movies is a cause of smoking initiation and progression to regular smoking among youth,” said Donna Kosmack, co-chair of the Ontario Coalition for Smoke-Free Movies. “Exposure to onscreen tobacco undermines tobacco prevention efforts.”

According to recent polling by Ipsos, 78 per cent of Ontarians support not allowing smoking in movies rated G, PG, and 14A – an increase from 73 per cent in 2011.

“There is a straightforward way to fix the problem, and that’s an amendment of the regulations under the provincial Film Classification Act that would require all movies with smoking shown in Ontario to be rated 18A,” said Michael Perley of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco.

“The people of Ontario support action to protect kids from the normalization of smoking,” said Liz Scanlon, senior manager of public affairs, Ontario, for Heart & Stroke.

Thousands of Ontarians have signed petitions that support action to reduce exposure to smoking in youth-rated films released in Ontario. These petitions have been read into the Legislature’s record by nearly two dozen MPPs from the three major parties.

Ontario's menthol cigarette ban prompted smokers to quit: U of T study

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 17:57:49 +0000

Ontario's menthol cigarette ban prompted smokers to quit: U of T study

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 06/06/2019 - 13:57

Cutline

(photo by Chris Jongkind via Getty Images)

Heidi Singer

Topic

Breaking Research

Addiction

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Global

Research & Innovation

Smoking

Ontario’s ban on menthol, the minty cigarette additive, has encouraged more people to quit smoking, a ��Ƶ researcher has found.

Although Canadians don’t smoke menthol cigarettes in high numbers, the research by Michael Chaiton, an associate professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, could add to the debate over banning menthol in the U.S., where large numbers of African-American smokers, in particular, use menthol cigarettes. That’s because research shows that menthol smokers are less likely to try quitting than other smokers – and long-term success in quitting generally depends on the number of attempts made.

The results of the U of T study were recently published in the BMJ Journal Tobacco Control.

“We found a substantial impact on the behaviour of menthol smokers, particularly those who were daily users,” says Chaiton (left), who works in the school’s epidemiology division and Office of Global Public Health Education & Training.

“For some people, menthol is incredibly important to maintain their addiction – that’s why it was put there in the first place.”

Ontario banned menthol-flavoured tobacco products in January 2017. Chaiton’s survey of almost 1,000 smokers found that 63 per cent of daily menthol smokers tried to quit in the year after the ban, compared with 43 per cent of non-menthol smokers. He concluded that banning menthol is an effective way to encourage a particularly entrenched group of smokers to try quitting.

“People who don’t have access to menthol have a difficult time landing on another brand: some are too strong, some too weak,” Chaiton notes. “And because the menthol makes it easier to smoke, new smokers will use it as a gateway.”

In Canada, 25 per cent of smokers use menthol occasionally, but only two-to-four per cent use it exclusively. In the U.S., by contrast, menthol amounts to one-third of cigarette sales, with almost 90 per cent of African Americans preferring menthol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2013 study suggested 633,000 American lives could be saved if the U.S. government bans menthol – a move currently under consideration.

“Menthol users smoke fewer cigarettes a day, possibly because it makes the nicotine more bioactive, so it’s cheaper for lower income people,” says Chaiton, adding that there are also genetic differences between people who find menthol appealing and those who find it off-putting.

Since the Ontario ban, daily menthol smokers have tried to quit twice as often as they had before the ban, says Chaiton, and, importantly, the ban stopped people from taking up menthol cigarettes in the first place.

“There were people who found ways to continue to use menthol, but people didn’t flock to buy new sources of contraband.”

Higher cigarette prices would save millions of people, especially poor smokers: U of T leads study

ullahnor — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 18:56:02 +0000

Higher cigarette prices would save millions of people, especially poor smokers: U of T leads study

ullahnor Thu, 04/12/2018 - 14:56

Cutline

Photo by Andrew Pons on Unsplash

Ana Gajic

Topic

Global Lens

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Subheadline

Research finds taxing cigarettes could keep people out of poverty and save lives

Higher cigarette prices would save millions of people from extreme poverty and poor health around the world, while also cutting health treatment costs for families across the globe, suggests a new study.

The analysis, led by U of T Professor Prabhat Jha and the World Bank's Patricio V. Marquez, concludes that people with lower incomes would benefit the most from higher cigarette prices. Examining 500 million male smokers in 13 countries, they found that a 50 per cent increase in the tobacco excise tax would result in 67 million men quitting smoking, with the largest share being low-income men. It would also reduce years of life lost and decrease the risk of high medical costs.

The study was published this week in The BMJ. It adds to a growing body of knowledge that tobacco taxes, which are not implemented globally, have significant health benefits.

“Our study debunks the current narrative that higher cigarette prices would negatively impact the poorest among us,” said Dr. Jha (pictured at left), a professor of epidemiology at U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

“This analysis shows the opposite – a higher price would encourage cessation, lead to better health and save money, much more strongly for the poor than the rich.”

Small steps taken by governments can lead to unprecedented health gains and poverty reduction, he added.

Read about the research at Fortune

Read the Daily Telegraph story

The higher price would lead to 15.5 million men avoiding catastrophic health spending in the seven countries studied without universal health coverage, according to the study. This would result in 8.8 million men avoiding extreme poverty, half of whom are in the bottom income group.

Quitting smoking would result in 449 million years of life gained, the study showed. Higher tobacco costs would also benefit households globally, with about US$157-billion averted to treat the four main tobacco-attributable diseases examined: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, heart disease and cancer.

Despite more awareness of the risks, Jha said, if nothing changes, smoking will be responsible for one billion deaths in the 21st century. Most of these will be in low- and middle-income countries. Previous research by Jha, who is also director of the Centre for Global Health Research of St. Michael’s Hospital, has shown that raising taxes on tobacco is the single most effective intervention to lower smoking rates and to deter future smokers.

Building on his earlier research, Jha and the team undertook this new analysis to understand the true impact of higher cigarette prices around the world. They conducted an assessment across 13 middle-income countries with diverse socioeconomic characteristics, tobacco use and health-care coverage. Focusing on male smokers – who make up 90 per cent of smokers in the selected countries – the researchers used mathematical models to quantify the effect of a 50 per cent increase in prices.

“The findings of our new analysis will have a far-reaching impact,” said Marquez, the lead health specialist at the World Bank. “Not only does increasing tobacco taxation reduce smoking and its health consequences, but the study’s findings are also relevant to the United Nations sustainable development goals to reduce poverty and improve health.”

The study was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the International Development Research Centre.

U of T's Prabhat Jha inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Medicine

ullahnor — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 18:54:11 +0000

U of T's Prabhat Jha inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Medicine

ullahnor Tue, 10/18/2016 - 14:54

Cutline

Prabhat Jha's research on tobacco control enabled a global treaty that has been signed by over 180 countries (photo by Margaret Mulligan)

Nicole Bodnar

Author legacy

Nicole Bodnar

Topic

Global Lens

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Prabhat Jha, a professor at U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health known for his research on tobacco control, was inducted Monday into the National Academy of Medicine in Washington DC.

Jha is one of 10 international members selected by the academy in 2016. He joins four other ��Ƶ faculty members who are already members, including U of T President Emeritus Dr. David Naylor.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine and the natural, social and behavioral sciences. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the academy addresses critical issues in health, medicine and related policy.

“The NAM does so much to advance science and its uses," said Jha, professor of global health at U of T and director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital. "I am delighted to be accepted by my peers into this prestigious organization.”

U of T researchers receive $1.76 million to tackle Indigenous tobacco use, lung cancer

ullahnor — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 15:49:17 +0000

U of T researchers receive $1.76 million to tackle Indigenous tobacco use, lung cancer

ullahnor Tue, 09/27/2016 - 11:49

Cutline

U of T Professor Robert Schwartz leads a research team to study tobacco use in Canadian Indigenous communities (photo by Jackie Atlas)

Nicole Bodnar

Author legacy

Nicole Bodnar

Topic

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

tobacco

Subheadline

U of T researchers hope to develop a model for reducing commercial tobacco use

A team led by U of T researchers Robert Schwartz and Michael Chaiton has received a $1.76 million grant from the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases to reduce commercial tobacco use and prevent chronic lung disease in Canadian Indigenous communities.

“Smoking cigarettes is one of the worst things you can do to your health and is a major risk factor for all lung diseases,” said Schwartz, executive director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit and professor of public health policy at U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Through the study, researchers will collaborate with 13 Indigenous communities to support the development of culturally appropriate tobacco interventions to reflect socioeconomic, cultural and political influences.

About 18 per cent of Canadians smoke cigarettes, but in the First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations, the rates are 35.8 per cent, 59.8 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. The high rates of commercial tobacco use in Indigenous populations have led to a variety of health issues, lower life expectancy than the general Canadian population and higher rates of tobacco-related death.

“Working together with communities, we hope the study will help close the very large gap in the relative health burden experienced by Aboriginal as compared to non-Aboriginal people in Canada,” said Schwartz, who is also a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Smoking

Quitting smoking at any age brings big health benefits – fast: Study

U of T researchers receive $4 million in federal funding to help curb smoking, vaping

U of T research reveals why nicotine initially feels disgusting, could help smokers quit

Read about Grieder’s previous research on nicotine addiction and stress

'We need a more comprehensive approach': U of T’s Robert Schwartz on the rise of vaping, risks and regulation

U of T researcher argues for age restriction for movies that depict smoking: CBC Radio

Read more about Schwartz's research

Listen to Schwartz on CBC Radio

U of T researchers show kids widely exposed to smoking in movies

Ontario's menthol cigarette ban prompted smokers to quit: U of T study

Higher cigarette prices would save millions of people, especially poor smokers: U of T leads study

Read about the research at Fortune

Read the Daily Telegraph story

U of T's Prabhat Jha inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Medicine

Read more about the induction

Read more about Professor Jha's research

U of T researchers receive $1.76 million to tackle Indigenous tobacco use, lung cancer

Read more about Robert Schwartz's research