China catching up: Too bad it's smoking-related deaths

William Atkins
Thursday, 08 January 2009 21:29

Science - Health

According to a large Chinese-American study, smoking is a "major risk factor for mortality" in China. The Chinese government is quickly developing into a major industrialized country in the world but, unfortunately, its citizens are picking up bad smoking habits from other countries.


The researchers performing the study are from the Department of Evidence Based Medicine, Cardiovascular Institute and Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, and the National Center for Cardiovascular Disease; the Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; and the Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine.

Their paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is entitled, “Mortality Attributable to Smoking in China.”

The goal of the researchers was to “… estimate the number of deaths attributable to smoking in China” because tobacco smoking has been found to be a risk factor for many deadly diseases and is commonly found in economically developing countries (such as China).”

The researchers studied 169,871 Chinese adults who were 40 years of age or older.

The participants to this study were part of the China National Hypertension Survey, which collected data in 1991, 1999, and 2000 on smoking and related health factors.

Taking into account relevant factors such as age, family history, frequency of smoking, gender, and other such important factors, the researchers calculated the number of deaths within China during the year 2005 directly attributable to smoking.

The researchers estimate the number of deaths caused by tobacco smoking, along with estimates for men and women. Please read page two.