The Effects of Tobacco Use on Health | Assignment

Running head: EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
Introduction:
This paper aims for discussing the effect of smoking on the population health in UK.
The paper will be focused on the impact of this habitual problem in the national level. There
is a huge range of health complications resulting from the habit of smoking in the people. The
complications may start from simple coughing and wheezing but might lead to a serious
morbid condition like lung cancer (West 2017). Smoking can affect an individual in two
ways, by active smoking and by passive smoking. The paper will be discussing the statistics
related to the problem of smoking in the national population of UK first. Then it will be
focused on discussing the impact on the health and National Health Service (NHS) resulting
from smoking. Finally the paper will be discussing possible interventions to lower the impact
and the legislations that are already at place.
Discussion:
Statistics:
Cigarette smoking is very common habit that can be associated with all the groups of
adults, including the young adults, middle age adults and the older adults. The group of
smoker includes all the gender of a population. The practice is not limited within a specific
cultural group of people. A study conducted by UK government found that around 14.7 %
people of the whole population in UK have the habit of smoking. The number of the people is
about 7.2 million (Ons.gov.uk 2020). The population involves around 14.4% adults in
England, 15.9% in Wales, 16.3 % in Scotland and 15.5 % in the Northern Ireland. It has also
been found that the population under 18 years old age group are also developing a habit of
smoking (Ons.gov.uk 2020). The habit of smoking leads to many disease conditions that are
otherwise preventable. It presents risks for causing harm to about every organ of the body.
The habit also claims about 77,800 lives every year only in England, among which many

2EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
deaths result from the passive smoking only. The number of death in Wales is 5,500, 10,000
in Scotland and about 2,300 in Northern Ireland (Ons.gov.uk 2020).
Impact on Health:
The first organ in the human body that gets affected from the habit of smoking is the
lungs. A damage to the lungs of an individual resulting from the habit of smoking is very
common in the smokers. The results of that damage include various clinical manifestations,
including the development of asthma, coughs and the lung cancers. The smoking also
increases the susceptibility of the individuals into developing various other disease conditions
such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, COPD and various others. All these disease conditions
affect the mental health of an individual as well (Bello et al. 2014). The resulting conditions
include increased anxiety and depression in the people (Leventhal and Zvolensky 2015). The
disease conditions are also associated with many other co-morbidities. There is an increased
risk of the development of the cardiovascular diseases in the individuals, who have the habit
of smoking. The habit also increases the risk of death in a few individuals, such as the people
with diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases or the pregnant women (LeFevre 2014). All
these adverse effects of smoking is not only affects the individuals, who use tobacco products
for smoking. The individuals, who do not smoke actively but inhales the smoke accidently
are also at risk of experiencing the adverse health effects described before. This way the habit
of smoking is not only harmful for the health of a particular individual but also for the whole
population health.
Impact on NHS:
National Health Service or the NHS is a healthcare system that is controlled by the
government of UK and is responsible controlling the health related affairs in England, Wales,
Scotland and in Northern Ireland. Smoking affects the economy of the whole country. Even
though in UK, there are taxes to be paid for buying the cigarettes, there are many other costs

3EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
result from the problem of smoking. The development of various disease and the deaths that
result from the problem of smoking is associated with the decreased productivity of the
country. The costs resulting from the health related problems in the population of UK are to
be paid by the NHS. A study found that the NHS have an expenditure of about £2.7 billion
per year, in relation to the smoking. The expenditure included the costs of arranging the
awareness programs, the costs of disease management and preventions and finally the costs
of quit smoking programs (Richardson et al. 2014).
Possible Interventions and Legislations at Place:
The NHS have adapted various interventions to prevent smoking in the population of
UK. The interventions are also directed at lowering the smoking related costs of the whole
country and lowering the death rate resulting from this habit. The first intervention that is
adapted by the NHS is the quit smoking campaigns. As a part of that intervention, they also
provide the related treatments to help the individuals to quit smoking. The other interventions
include the introduction of taxes on the cigarettes, banning tobacco products and the
introduction of smoke free zone (nhs.uk 2020).
According to the laws of UK, smoking is completely banned in all the public enclosed
area along with the workplaces and other outdoor public areas. The law is to protect the non-
smokers from the harm of the tobacco smoke to lower the adverse health effects (Anyanwu,
Craig, Katikireddi and Green 2018).
Conclusion:
Hence it can be concluded from the above discussion that the habit of smoking is
responsible for various adverse effects on the health of an individual. Besides the individuals
who smoke actively, the passive smokers are also affected. There is a huge cost associated
with the habit of smoking in UK. The bearer of that cost is the NHS and various other

4EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
government sectors. The NHS have adapted various interventions to control the situation
arising from the problems associated with smoking. There are also laws that prohibit smoking
in the public area in order to lower the harmful effects in the secondary smokers.

5EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
References:
Anyanwu, P.E., Craig, P., Katikireddi, S.V. and Green, M.J., 2018. Impacts of smoke-free
public places legislation on inequalities in youth smoking uptake: study protocol for a
secondary analysis of UK survey data. BMJ open, 8(3), p.e022490.
Banderali, G., Martelli, A., Landi, M., Moretti, F., Betti, F., Radaelli, G., Lassandro, C. and
Verduci, E., 2015. Short and long term health effects of parental tobacco smoking during
pregnancy and lactation: a descriptive review. Journal of translational medicine, 13(1),
p.327.
Bello, S., Menéndez, R., Antoni, T., Reyes, S., Zalacain, R., Capelastegui, A., Aspa, J.,
Borderías, L., Martin-Villasclaras, J.J., Alfageme, I. and De Castro, F.R., 2014. Tobacco
smoking increases the risk for death from pneumococcal pneumonia. Chest, 146(4), pp.1029-
1037.
Ekblad, M., Korkeila, J., & Lehtonen, L. (2015). Smoking during pregnancy affects foetal
brain development. Acta paediatrica, 104(1), 12-18.
LeFevre, M.L., 2014. Behavioral counseling to promote a healthful diet and physical activity
for cardiovascular disease prevention in adults with cardiovascular risk factors: US
Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Annals of internal
medicine, 161(8), pp.587-593.
Leventhal, A.M. and Zvolensky, M.J., 2015. Anxiety, depression, and cigarette smoking: A
transdiagnostic vulnerability framework to understanding emotion–smoking
comorbidity. Psychological bulletin, 141(1), p.176.
nhs.uk, 2020. Stop Smoking Treatments. [online] nhs.uk. Available at:
<https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stop-smoking-treatments/> [Accessed 15 March 2020].

6EFFECT OF SMOKING ON THE POPULATION HEALTH
Ons.gov.uk, 2020. Adult Smoking Habits In The UK - Office For National Statistics. [online]
Ons.gov.uk. Available at:
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/
healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/adultsmokinghabitsingreatbritain/2018#other-sources-of-
data-to-understand-smoking-and-its-impact> [Accessed 15 March 2020].
Richardson, S., Langley, T., Szatkowski, L., Sims, M., Gilmore, A., McNeill, A. and Lewis,
S., 2014. How does the emotive content of televised anti-smoking mass media campaigns
influence monthly calls to the NHS Stop Smoking helpline in England?. Preventive
medicine, 69, pp.43-48.
West, R., 2017. Tobacco smoking: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and
interventions. Psychology & health, 32(8), pp.1018-1036.