Most deaths caused by smokeless tobacco
in India
More than a quarter of a million
people in the world die each year from using smokeless tobacco, and India bears
three-fourths of the burden, reveals a study that assessed the global impact of
smokeless tobacco consumption on adults.
Millions more have their lives
shortened by ill-health due to the effects of chewing tobacco-based products,
the findings showed.
"Nearly 85 percent of the
total burden attributable to smokeless tobacco (SLT) use was in South-East
Asia, with India alone accounting for 74 percent of the global burden, followed
by Bangladesh (five percent)," said the study. Researchers compiled the figures using data
from 113 countries and extracted from the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study
and surveys such as Global Adult Tobacco Survey.
In 2010 alone smokeless tobacco
resulted in more than 62,000 deaths due to cancers of the mouth, pharynx and
oesophagus and accounted for more than 200,000 deaths from heart disease, the
study estimated.
"It is possible that these
figures are underestimated and future studies may reveal that the impact is
even bigge," said Kamran Siddiqi, senior lecturer in epidemiology and
public health at University of York in England.
The team said that more research
is needed in countries with high levels of consumption but where figures for
the relative risk of acquiring smoking-related cancers are not available.
"We need a global effort to
try and address and control smokeless tobacco," Siddiqi said.
"We have got no
international policy on how to regulate the production, composition, sale,
labelling, packaging and marketing of smokeless tobacco products," he
pointed out.
The international framework to
control tobacco does not seem to work to control smokeless tobacco. It does not
get the same regulation as cigarettes, Siddiqi pointed out.
"There is a need to build on
the insights obtained from efforts to reduce cigarette smoking and to
investigate strategies to reduce the use of smokeless tobacco," he noted.
The results were published in the
journal BMC Medicine.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
25.08.2015
Effective hygiene routine for contact
lens users
If you wear
contact lenses, chances are you've slept in them and on occasion even forgot to
disinfect them.
According to an
online study, experts say that at least 50% of contact users report wearing
their lenses while sleeping and 82.3% of contact wearers keep their contact
lens cases longer than recommended. It was found that 99% of those people
surveyed are at an increased risk for serious eye infections because of poor
hygienic behaviour. Routines, like 'topping off' the lens solution or using
water at times, can result in devastating eye infections and even blindness in
some cases.
"The lens
case can get dirty, and germs from the case get onto the lens or vice versa,
and eventually they get onto your eye and attack your cornea," said Thomas
Steinemann, a researcher, adding that infections can happen within 24 hours of
wearing a compromised lens. One third of those surveyed also reported that they
sought medical help for red or painful eyes related to wearing contact lenses.
A few things that can be done to minimise the risk is to not use the lens
beyond the recommended period, not sleep while wearing lenses (even extended
use lenses), cleaning the solution every time the lens is used and ensuring
that you dispose the case every three to four months.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
25.08.2015
The past is behind, learn from
it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it
Eyemadreamer
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