The Expanding Potential for Cohort Studies to Inform Priorities for Cancer Prevention

A lead series of cohorts has been run by the American Cancer Society (ACS) which has led U.S. prospective studies documenting the link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer from the first study of over 188,000 men, to the Cancer Prevention Study 1, follow-up of 1 million men and women and also documenting the benefits of stopping smoking where after more than one year the risk waslower than current smokers and took more than 10 years to return to the risk of never smokers. Subsequent follow-up data informed the estimates of tobacco smoking to cancer mortality in the USA providing essential input to the report by Doll and Peto on the potential to prevent cancer. 

Further updates of the ACS cohorts refined our understanding of the burden of tobacco across decades . The Cancer Prevention Study cohorts have also contributed leadership to documenting the burden due to overweight and obesity setting the stage for the International Agency for Research on Cancer report on this topic and global estimates . Like other cohorts studying lifestyle and diet data , the ACS also contributed major data on mortality due to alcohol. Read more...............

Predictors of Persistent Waterpipe Smoking Among University Students in The United States

Smoking continues to be a significant public health problem causing 443,000 premature deaths annually in the United States and 5.4 million worldwide. It is currently the leading preventable cause of premature death both in the United States (US) and worldwide, and is projected to remain as such in 2020. Smoking annually coststhe US society approximately $193 billion with $96 billion in direct medicalcosts.

Waterpipe smoking is a recent form of tobacco use in the US and is growing in popularity especially among the adolescents and young adults with a misconception of relative safety  and variety of sweetened flavors. Waterpipe smoking is common in the Middle East, India, and segments of Asia, and increasingly becoming more prevalent in Western countries . Waterpipes have been referred to as the following names: Shishah, hookah , argeela, Goza, hubble-bubble , and narghile .

The American Lung Association (ALA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the American Cancer Society (ACS) have warned against health risks associated with waterpipe smoking. Similar to cigarettes, it can increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and poor fetal outcomes. Furthermore, using the same mouthpieces in social groups can also spread communicable diseases .Previous studies have also demonstrated that smoking tobacco using a waterpipe causes exposure to carbon monoxide (CO), smoke  nicotine, as well as carcinogens including hydrocarbon and heavy metals and tar and can result in nicotine dependence. Read more..............