Brian D. Carter

The study “Smoking and Mortality — Beyond Established Causes”, published in the fever edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, emerges as an important question regarding the real impact of tobaccoism on population mortality. Although recent data indicate an estimate of 480,000 deaths each year linked to smoking in the United States, only 21 deaths have been formally identified as caused by smoking. This raises a possible underestimation of the burden associated with this, considering that there are no associations identified with various other tasks not listed in this group.

Diante desse cenário, or group of epidemiologists Brian D. Carter We developed a study in which 954,029 individuals were evaluated throughout the period from 2000 to 2011 based on 5 large cohorts carried out in the USA, however, at the same time evaluating not only 21 defined categories, but a total of 52 different categories. Contemplating with this new selection different cancers, cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, renal, endocrine, mental and neurological diseases. The components of the study were further divided into three groups: those who never smoked, ex-smokers and those who still smoked during the period.
Among the results, a correlation was found between higher mortality in different conditions in tobacco-using patients, especially those who still smoke. Some particular characteristics were also identified, such as the risk of developing cirroses regardless of the time at which the patient stopped smoking, as well as the occurrence of kidney damage and the alterations in laboratories that alter their function only in relation to the number of cigarettes/ day. An aspect that has been noted to be relevant is the greater occurrence of suicide and external accidents in the group of tobacco workers, referring to the possibility of greater occurrence of these mentais nesses individuals according to some studies that have already been demonstrated. These data demonstrate that the impact of tobaccoism is even greater than anticipated.
More information is available in full in the New England Journal of Medicine Smoking and Mortality — Beyond Established Causes and through you correspondences answered by Brian D. Carter.