Smoking increases risk for diabetes
Smokers and second-hand smokers have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes compared to non-smokers, a study finds.
The researchers estimated that 11.7% of cases of type 2 diabetes in men and 2.4% in women (about 27.8 million cases in total worldwide) may be attributable to active smoking. They also found that risk decreases with time after smokers quit.
In this study, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 88 previous studies on the association between smoking and type 2 diabetes risk, looking at health data from nearly 6 million study participants.
They found that when compared with people who never smoked, current smoking increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 37%; former smoking by 14%; and passive smoking (breathing in second-hand smoke) by 22%. They also found a 54% increased risk of type 2 diabetes in people who quit smoking less than 5 years ago, which fell to 18% increased risk after 5 years and 11% increased risk more than 10 years after quitting.
Among current smokers, the amount smoked made a difference. The increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 21%, 34%, and 57% for light, moderate, and heavy smokers, respectively, compared with never smokers.
The study was done by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, and National University of Singapore and was published September 18, 2015 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
“Despite the global efforts to combat the tobacco epidemic, cigarette use remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide,” said An Pan, the first author of the study and professor of epidemiology at School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. “This study underscores the importance of implementing and enforcing the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The smoke-free policies can provide protections for non-smokers and may lead to increased successful cessation in smokers.”
The authors also called for more research into the mechanisms underlying the short-term increased risk of diabetes in recent quitters in order to help develop interventions to improve smoking cessation and prevent diabetes.
Category: Features, Health alert
