‘Smoking on the rise in Pakistan’

LAHORE
Increasing tobacco use in Pakistan is a serious health threat as it kills six million people globally every year. Pakistan is one of the four countries, which has witnessed a rapid increase in tobacco market and this issue needs to be addressed immediately, said Dr Ali Bin Sarwar Zubairi, Consultant Pulmonologist and Section Head of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Aga Khan University Hospital on the occasion of ‘World No Tobacco Day’.
According to a press release issued on Monday, Dr. Zubairi said that smoking was a primary cause of lung cancer and various other fatal diseases like COPD and myocardial infarction. The WHO estimates that the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) will become the third largest disease by 2030 and smoking which is a major cause of the COPD.
“COPD’ is characterised by progressive difficulty in breathing due to inflammation of respiratory tract. The COPD is a chronic lung disease and has no cure, Dr. Ali added.
He mentioned that smoking was mostly adopted during a person’s youth therefore youngsters should be educated about the health hazards of smoking. He said the Third World countries like Pakistan are at a higher risk of the COPD as the global tobacco epidemic killed nearly six million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand or environmental smoke. More than 80% of these preventable deaths are among people who live in low-and middle-income countries.
Dr Ali Zubairi referred to a population-based study on the COPD titled “BREATHE” when claiming that the disease was on the rise in Pakistan. The study was conducted in 11 countries including Pakistan. The study showed that 18.7% of the country’s population was involved in smoking cigarettes and water pipes. The study also revealed that awareness of the COPD among smokers was very low.
He said smoking was a primary cause of the COPD and its symptoms developed gradually over time. The main symptoms of the disease include shortness of breath, persistent coughing, wheezing and fatigue. He said there were also other causes of the COPD besides smoking which included biomass fuel and occupational exposures e.g. coal mining, asbestos, respiratory infections, socio-economic status and ageing. He pointed out that most patients did not consult doctors in the early stages of the disease as they often attributed early signs to other factors. It is only when the symptoms get severe and by that time a significant amount of lung function has already been lost. Dr Ali Zubairi said the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ provided us the golden opportunity to educate the public about the health hazards of smoking.