According to research, the number of smokers and tobacco users worldwide has reached 1.1 billion, breaking an all-time record. The number of people who lost their lives due to smoking and tobacco-related diseases has reached 7.7 million. Turkey is among the 10 countries that account for 2/3 of global consumption. If the number of new smokers does not decrease, the tobacco epidemic will continue for many years. Smoking and tobacco addiction, a treatable brain disease, causes mass deaths. Therefore, smoking cessation treatments have an important place in national health programs.
What is smoking and tobacco addiction?
Smoking and tobacco addiction, also known as tobacco dependence, is a treatable brain disease. Tobacco products are widely used in all countries and affect the smoker and those around him/her with nicotine smoke. However, there have been significant changes in terms of tobacco addiction in various countries in the last 50-60 years when the negative effects of tobacco use on health have been revealed. During this period, tobacco product use has been decreasing especially in developed countries, while tobacco addiction has been increasing in developing countries.
For example, while more than half of the people in the adult age group in the UK were addicted to tobacco 50-60 years ago, this figure has decreased to around 20 percent today. Although a similar trend is observed in most of the developed countries, tobacco addiction in our country increased by around 80 percent in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2001, 2 percent of cigarettes in the world and 14 percent of cigarettes in our region were smoked in our country. According to the 1988 PİAR Survey, 62.8% of men, 24.3% of women and 43.6% of the whole population smoked tobacco.According to the 1993 BİGTAŞ Survey, 57.8% of men, 13.5% of women and 33.6% of the whole population were found to be addicted to tobacco.
With these rates of tobacco addiction , Turkey is among the countries in Europe with the highest tobacco smoking rates among men. Cigarette and tobacco addiction increases rapidly as the educational level and status of individuals increase. Although tobacco use and tobacco addiction in the age group of 15 and over in Turkey is still high compared to developed countries, a significant decrease has been observed in the last 15 years. According to nationally representative studies, tobacco dependence in males decreased from 58% in 1993 to 48% in 2008.
Althoughsmoking and tobacco addiction in women is slightly lower, there has been a slight decrease since 2003. However, there are still around 20 million people addicted to cigarettes in Turkey and with this figure, Turkey is the tenth country with the highest tobacco consumption among the world countries. Tobacco addiction is also quite common among young people in Turkey. In many studies conducted among students between the ages of 13-17, prevalence values ranging from 0.9 to 41 percent were found.
According to the results of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS; Global Youth Tobacco Survey) conducted in 2003 in cooperation with the World Health Organizationre Among students aged 13-16 years, 33.1% of boys and 22.3% of girls had smoked at some point in their lives. 9.1% of the male students and 5.0% of the female students stated that they were smokers at the time of the study. The negative effects of tobacco addiction are not limited to smokers; serious health problems also arise in those who are passively affected by cigarette smoke. Various studies have shown that 60-80% of households have at least one person with tobacco addiction.
Tobacco is linked to lung cancer , leukemia, lip, mouth, tongue, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidneyIt is a proven fact that tobacco is one of the most important factors leading to cancer of the bladder, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Despite this, tobacco addiction continues to kill masses as an epidemic. Currently, 4 million people worldwide die annually due to nicotine addiction and lose 22 years of their lives. Tobacco alone is the leading single cause of death worldwide. By 2030, it is estimated that smoking will kill 10 million people a year due to tobacco addiction, at least half of them between the ages of 35 and 69. By 2030, developing countries will be responsible for 70% of all tobacco deaths in the world. Many deaths and many diseases can only be reduced by preventing tobacco addiction.
What are the symptoms of smoking and tobacco addiction?
Cigarette and tobacco addiction manifests itself with different symptoms in each individual. In order for a person to be considered a tobacco addict, he/she must have shown at least two of the following symptoms in a period of 1 year;
- An intense desire to smoke and an irresistible urge tosmoke
- Spending too much time and effort to access and usenicotine
- Not being willing to reduce or quit smoking even if the harms of smoking are known
- Efforts to quit smoking do not yield results
- Disruptions in social life as a result of smoking (disrupting responsibilities in the family, at school or at work)
- Increasing the amount of tobacco due to insufficient nicotine intake
How to treat smoking and tobacco addiction?
The first step insmoking and tobacco cessation treatment is to motivate and help the person to quit smoking. There are different treatment methods for smoking cessation. Of these, nicotine replacement therapy and bupropion are the two most important treatment methods. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is an appropriate form of treatment for tobacco cessation because it reduces the desire to smoke and tobacco withdrawal. The drugs used for NRT are nicotine patches, nicotine gum, nasal spray, tablets and inhalers. Of these drugs, only nicotine gum and nicotine patch are widely used. They are also cost effective. There are situations where these medicines are not suitable. These include recent heart attacks, unstable angina, and common skin conditions such as hives. Non-drug treatment methods are also used. These include hypnosis and acupuncture. There are some side effects of quitting smoking. These allergic reactions manifest themselves as dry mouth, insomnia, skin rashes and itching.
