Report confirms enormous health risk of smoking

There is sufficient evidence to conclude tobacco use can cause an array of cancers and some of the most common chronic illnesses inflicting Chinese people, according to a report released on Wednesday. 

The report said the smoking rate of Chinese people aged 15 and above is 26.6 percent, down by about 7.3 percentage points from 1984. The global rate stands at 19.2 percent. 

"Tobacco use is associated with over one million deaths annually. If immediate action (to rein in smoking) is not implemented, the annual death rates are projected to increase to two million by 2030 and three million by 2050," said the report, which was jointly released by the National Health Commission and the World Health Organization's China office. 

Wang Chen, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College and head of the expert panel compiling the report, said fresh, science-based evidence on the harms of tobacco use on health has accumulated over the years. 

One prominent example is the increased risk of small cell lung cancer, which makes up 15 to 20 percent of all lung cancers in China. "Only 2.5 to 3 percent of small cell lung cancer patients are not regular smokers," Wang said. 

The report also demonstrated a causal link between smoking and cancers of the lung, oral cavity, oropharyngeal, throat, bladder, cervix, pancreas, liver, esophagus, stomach and kidneys. 

Regular smoking can also lead to chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary arteriosclerosis, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, the report read. 

In addition, the report warns exposure to secondhand smoke even for a short period will increase the risk of developing some diseases, and concludes e-cigarettes will cause harm to health. 

The report collated more than 800 research papers and was published ahead of this year's World No Tobacco Day, which falls on Monday. 

Xiao Lin, deputy head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's tobacco control office, said a survey shows 90 percent of people are cognizant of the fact smoking is harmful, but their awareness of the severity and scale of its harm is significantly lower. 

She has called on primary medical workers to integrate brief tobacco interventions in their routine practices, such as asking patients about their smoking history, advising them to quit smoking and referring them to smoking cessation clinics. 

Xiao said the proportion of smokers who had received such advice had increased to 46.4 percent in 2018, up from 34 percent in 2010 but still lower than the average of 80 percent reported in developed countries. 

Wu Xiangtian, deputy head of the National Health Commission's planning and information department, said past surveys show many smokers willing to give up smoking have relied on their  own willpower instead of seeking professional cessation services. 

Official data shows more than 90 percent of regular smokers who had tried to quit smoking in the past 12 months had never used any cessation services. 

The commission will continue to improve the provision of tobacco cessation services to make them more convenient and accessible to smokers, Wu said.