Research Proposal: Cigarette Smoking and Lung Cancer

This research proposal investigates the causal relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. The study aims to determine if smoking is a paramount cause of lung cancer, focusing on data collected from government hospitals in New South Wales, Australia. The research will follow 40 patients diagnosed with lung cancer over a five-year period, from January 2019 to December 2024, collecting data annually. The study intends to spread awareness about the health impacts of smoking and potentially inform policy development. The proposal includes background information on smoking's global impact, study goals, methods, ethical considerations, and project management arrangements. The research design is analytical, observational, and uses a cohort study approach, collecting data on patient demographics, smoking history, and health outcomes to determine the effects of smoking on lung health.

Proposal 1
Research proposal: Is cigarette smoking a paramount cause of lung cancer

Proposal 2
Table of Contents
Title of the project...........................................................................................................................3
Project summary..............................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................4
Study goals and objectives...............................................................................................................7
Study design and methods...............................................................................................................7
Ethical consideration...................................................................................................................9
Study limitations........................................................................................................................10
Study Impacts................................................................................................................................10
Project management arrangements................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

Proposal 3
Title of the project
“Is cigarette smoking a paramount cause of lung cancer?”
Study duration: 60 months (5 years)
Project summary
Cigarette is one of the most significant factors that have impacted the health of the Australians
and become common global issues in world today. ABS reports that there is a drop in the
cigarette smoking in past decade but still it is one of the main reasons for the lung cancer in the
country. There are many studies that indicate relation between cigarette and lung cancer.
Majority of the studies depicts that the main cause of lung cancer across the world is cigarette
smoking. Lung cancer is considered to be the fourth leading cause of the deaths in the Australia.
So, we aimed to identify the smoking of cigarette on cause of lung cancer. This study will be
conducted in the geographical regions of Australia. The data collection and further details
regarding the cases of lung cancer due to smoking are collected from the government hospitals of
New South Wales considering all the individuals that between 25-55 years admitted in the period
of January 2019 till the December 2019. The data will be collected every year for an overall
period of 5 years so the overall period of the study will be from January 2019 to December 2024.
For the successful study the data will be collected from 40 patients that are suffering from lung
cancer and they will be analysed for the next 5 years to identify the impact of smoking on their
health. The main impact of the study is expected to spread awareness that may possibly
contribute to control cigarette smoking and its impact on health among the people and support
government for developing policy and control the issue.

Proposal 4
Background
The wide negative impact of the smoking on the health of the individuals has resulted to one of
the common health issue across the globe. According to Martin (2018), tobacco causes six
million deaths per year globally it is the direct cause of one of the five deaths in USA. It is
identified that nearly 20% of the global population smokes cigarette. Lung cancer is considered
to be the fifth leading cause of the deaths in the Australia. There are various studies carried out
on the impact of smoking on health and its effect that results to cause of lung cancer (Martin
2018). In Australia, there are 84% of new lung cancers in men and 77% cancer in women due to
smoking. It is the most common form of cancer that results to the death of male and second most
common among females (Government 2012). It is also identified that there will 12741 new cases
of lung cancer diagnosed in year 2018 consists of 7212 males and 5529 females. It is also
estimated that there will be 9.2% new cases of cancer in 2018. In addition to this, it is also
estimated that there will be around 9198 deaths from lung cancer in the current year (Australia
2018).
Lung cancer is the one of the major contributor and fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in
year 2014 and will possibly be at the same position in 2018. It is one of the main causes of death
in Australia in year 2016. There were almost 8410 deaths from lung cancer in consists of 5023
males and 3387 females in year 2016. Although, there is a decrease in the smoking habits by
10% in year 2014-15 in comparison to year 1995 still smoking is a gigantic issue for health
(ABS 2017).

Proposal 5
Figure 1: Most common causes of cancer death in 2018 (Source: Cancer Australia, 2018).
Figure 2: Estimated most common cancers diagnosed 2018 (Source: Cancer Australia, 2018).

Proposal 6
There are presence of the several chemical in the tobacco smoke that affects the health of the
smoker and associated population. The main dangerous components were tar, carbon monoxide,
hydrogen cyanide, oxidizing chemicals, radioactive compounds and metals. There are several
negative effects of the smoking on the body of the human. It negatively impacts the respiratory
system that leads to irritation of trachea and larynx. It may lead to swelling or narrowing of lung
airways. It also impacts the circulatory system, immune system that results to longer lasting
illness and increased risk of stroke and heart stroke due to blockages of the blood supply. This
also leads to affects the sexual health and musculoskeletal system. The smoking not only affects
the smokers but also have severe impact on the second smokers. Long term smoking leads to
caner of lung, mouth, tongue, mouth and raise chance of other cancers (BetterhealthChannel
2018). It also leads to other lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary and chronic
bronchitis disease. The main types of cancers identified due to smoking include non-small cell
lung cancer which is caused due to mucus-producing cells and develop about 40% lung cancers.
Squamous cell carcinoma is another caner caused that develops in larger airways of lung. Small
cell lung cancer is another type of cancer that commonly begins in the middle of the lungs and
quickly spread in comparison to non-small cell lung cancer.
The main symptoms indicating the issues are shortness of breath, hoarseness, acute chest pain
and couching with pain (Cancer Counci 2018). The main identified reasons for the lungs cancer
identified by cancer council are smoking tobacco, second-hand smoke and exposure to asbestos.
The possible ways to diagnose the issues are Chest X-ray, PET scan and CT scan. It is also
identified that the person that is diagnosed with lung cancer are not surviving for a period of
more than 5 years. it is also identified that the addiction of the smoking is alarming situation that
has lead to indulge large number of people especially the 21.7% of the person who has not

Proposal 7
completed 12 years were having lower education in comparison to the educated ones and 10-
12% of the person between age 16-17 years. So, this study we will be examining the familiarity
of the existing research and the results gained to identify the relationship between the smoking
and cause of lung cancer by collecting the data of the patients that visits the governmental
hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.
Study goals and objectives
The main goal of the study is to increase awareness of the severe impact of smoking on the
health of the individuals. It will also be focused towards developing more awareness among the
young population to know the risks of smoking and short and long term consequences of
smoking on the health of the smoker. The study also spread awareness towards the impact on the
second-hand smoke which is also having almost equal health consequences on the associates that
spend time with the regular smokers. This study will be supporting for the identification of the
various issues caused by continuous smoking to the smoker along with the family members,
children’s and others (Xie 2014). The other objective of the research is to develop structured
approach to overcome the increasing cases of lung cancer and other issues that arise due to
smoking. Ministry of Health of NSW and Department of Health, Australia are expected to
provide assistance in monetary and other terms. At the same time, the long time of the study and
cost incurring in the study might possibly create biasness long time of follow up.
Study design and methods
The proposed approach that will be applied for the purpose of carrying out the research will be to
collect the information from the patients admitted to the government hospitals at New South
Wales, Australia. The study will be carried out during the month of January 2019. The data to be

Proposal 8
collected will be of the lung cancer patients that are admitted to different government hospitals
of NSW in Australia.
It is essential for a researcher to have proper design of the research study and methods to collect
relevant data. In order to carry out the research objectives, the research will be conducted to
patients admitted in the government hospitals at New South Wales, Australia. The study will be
carried out from the month of June 2018. The data to be collected will be of the lung cancer
patients that are admitted to different government hospitals of NSW in Australia. It is an
appropriate area of conducting the research study in effective manner (Yu 2017). The target
population of the study will be all patients of lung cancer admitted during the month of June
2018 in these hospitals. All of the patients will be within the range of 25 to 55 years. For the
successful completion of research objectives the research study will be conducted on 40 patients
of lung cancer for next five years. The condition of these patients will be analysed regularly for
next 5 years to investigate that cigarette smoking is a paramount cause of lung cancer. The data
will be collected on yearly basis for 5 years. Body Mass Index will also be used to measure the
records related to sex, age, history of the disease and socioeconomic factors that are essential to
attain reliable research outcomes.
As the research study will be conducted continuously for 5 years on the target population so that
the research design is analytical, observational and cohort study. In order to collect reliable and
viable research outcomes continuous observation of the patients is a better option. As well as, the
previous health records related to the research issue will be analysed in proper manner. The
analysis of previous health records will play an essential role in obtaining the research
objectives. Different journals, articles and authentic websites will be used to analyse the
objectives in more reliable manner. As well as, the cohort study design will be helpful in

Proposal 9
identifying the impact of smoking cigarette (factor) on lungs (outcome). In this concern, the
combination of observation, analytical study and cohort study will be helpful in gaining reliable
research objectives.
In this research study, non-probability sampling method will be used to collect relevant
information during the research process. Non-probability sampling is selected for this research
study as the individuals are not selected on random basis among the entire patients admitted in
the hospitals but the patients admitted in month of June was within the range of 25 to 55 years.
These patients are measured on basis of Body Mass Index (BMI) and data are collected from the
associated health professionals in the concerning hospitals (Murray 2017). At the begging of the
research study, the ages of the patients are to be between 25 to 55 years. By the end of this
research study the age of these research participants will be 30 to 60 years.
The collected data will be analysed through comparison between the data of first year of and
final year. Different health concerns of the patients will be analysed with the help of different
healthcare publications on impact of cigarette on lungs. In addition, different health care
professionals will be discussed about this issue to analyse the collected data in effective manner.
Ethical consideration
The studies related to healthcare leads to many ethical concerns, as these studies are mainly
completed on human beings. Therefore, the healthcare research studies leads to different physical
and mental harms. Participation of the individuals in a research study remains on their interest to
involve in the research so that the researcher cannot force to the individuals to participate in the
research study. In this concern, to avoid this issue from the research study only interested
patients will be selected as research participants to collect information about the research issue.

Proposal 10
As well as, the emotions and physical status of the patients will be taken into consideration while
collecting the information about the research issue. The personal information about the research
participants should be kept confidential or not discussed about this information with another. It is
analysed that each of the nation has their separate council conducted to the researches on health
concerns. COAG Health Council is responsible for the health researches in Australia (COAG
2014). In this concern, the rules related to health research will be followed during the research
process to eliminate the ethical concerns. In addition, authentic websites, journals and articles
will be used to obtain analytical data from previous research.
Study limitations
The research study is conducting for long duration, which is a big limitation for the research
study. Time of five years for a research study is not less time. Therefore, it is not easy to keep the
follow up of the individuals in the research study. There may be changes in the physical status of
the research participants as the research participants are patients of lung cancer. As well as, there
may be loss of the patients as this disease is a serious health concern for human being. Therefore,
it is a difficult task to track the patients of lung cancer for long time. There may be issue of
higher cost due to long time. In addition, the research study is conducted to a specific health
concern so that the outcomes of the research study cannot be used to analyze other health
concerns.
Study Impacts
The main outcomes of the research will be supporting evidences for the control of the issue of
cigarette smoking among the various categories such as teen agers, male and female that will
face its severe consequences if they continue to smoke. This will study will also be associated

Proposal 11
with the spreading awareness towards the causes of lung cancer among the whole population
residing in the Australia, especially it will play an important role towards quitting smoking for
the persons that are continuously smoking over a long period of time. It will also provide
important insights into the available data that will provide the government with various details of
smoking and lung cancer along with recommendations to introduce measures to minimise the
incurrence of such issues in Australia (Crane 2016). It might be increase in the taxes on cigarette,
more rehabilitation centres or spreading awareness through various modes. This will lead to
control the increased issues of lung cancer and other health issues.
Project management arrangements
This study will be conducted under me and my supportive group members. The proposal will be
submitted to the Department of Health, Australia and Ministry of Health, NSW. They will be
providing assistance in terms of management and funding. Along with this, the government
hospitals in NSW will also provide support under the instructions of Ministry of Health NSW.
The involvement of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) will provide
technical and ethical monitoring and review the project.

Proposal 12
References
ABS “Australian smoking rates falling.” (2017).
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/E6DE72422D16BBB4CA2
58130001536C2?OpenDocument
Australian Government “SMOKING CAUSES LUNG CANCER.” (2012).
http://www.quitnow.gov.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/content/warnings-b-lung
BetterhealthChannel “Smoking - effects on your body.” (2018).
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/smoking-effects-on-your-body
Cancer Australia “Lung cancer statistics.” (2018).
https://lung-cancer.canceraustralia.gov.au/statistics
Cancer Council “Lung Cancer.” (2018). https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/types-of-
cancer/lung-cancer.html
COAG. “The New COAG Council System.” (2014). https://www.coaghealthcouncil.gov.au/
Crane, Melanie, Nicola Scott, Blythe J. O’Hara, Sanchia Aranda, Mayanne Lafontaine, Ingrid
Stacey, Megan Varlow, and David Currow. "Knowledge of the signs and symptoms and risk
factors of lung cancer in Australia: mixed methods study." BMC public health 16, no. 1 (2016):
508.
Martin, T. “Global Smoking Statistics.” (2018). https://www.verywellmind.com/global-smoking-
statistics-for-2002-2824393

Proposal 13
Murray, Sonya R., Yvonne Kutzer, Emily Habgood, Peter Murchie, Fiona M. Walter, Danielle
Mazza, Shaouli Shahid, and Jon D. Emery. "Reducing barriers to consulting a General
Practitioner in patients at increased risk of lung cancer: a qualitative evaluation of the CHEST
Australia intervention." Family practice 34, no. 6 (2017): 740-746.
Xie, Ashleigh, Beth Croce, and David H. Tian. "Smoking and lung cancer." Annals of
cardiothoracic surgery 3, no. 2 (2014): 221.
Yu, Xue Qin, Qingwei Luo, Clare Kahn, Camilla Cahill, Marianne Weber, Paul Grogan,
Ahmedin Jemal, and Dianne L. O’Connell. "Widening socioeconomic disparity in lung cancer
incidence among men in New South Wales, Australia, 1987–2011." Chinese Journal of Cancer
Research 29, no. 5 (2017): 395.