2023-07-01 04:00:58
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the world.
Despite recent restrictions, tobacco use continues to increase in Mexico.
This addiction increases the risk of chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory infections and COPD.
Over the last few years, the fight against tobacco use in Mexico. Although despite the measures that have been adopted, the statistics show that there is still a long way to go. Even during the pandemic, the number of smokers in our country increased.
In this vein, despite the recent reform to the General Tobacco Control Law Other actions such as plain packaging, the prohibition of flavorings and the signing of the Illicit Trade Protocol are still needed to be sustainable over time. In the end, the maximum goal is to achieve a reduction in prevalence to less than 10 percent by the year 2030.
This is referred to in the study Consumption of tobacco and use of electronic cigarettes in Mexican adolescents and adults, which was published as part of the National Survey of Health and Nutrition (Ensanut) Continuous 2022carried out by the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) of the Ministry of Health.
The results of the research indicate that it is essential to accelerate the full implementation of the Framework Convention of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Tobacco Control (FCTC) and to continue the evaluation of control policies, with the purpose of reducing the burden economic and health, as well as premature mortality caused by smoking.
Current panorama of tobacco consumption in Mexico
Data from study show that 4.6 percent of adolescents and 19.5 percent of adults in Mexico reported smoking in 2022, which represents close to one million adolescents and 16.6 million adult smokers.
By sex, 6.7 percent of adolescent men and 2.5 percent of adolescent women smoke. In addition, 3.7 percent of those between the ages of 12 and 18 and 17.8 percent of adults reported having smoked in the past.
Over the electronic cigarettes, 91.7 percent of the adolescent population reported never having used these products (94.1 percent of women and 89.3 percent of men). 2.6 percent of adolescents (500,000) and 1.5 percent of adults (1.3 million) said they had used them.
The specialists highlighted that, in adolescence, the electronic cigarette represents a serious risk to individual health because it is associated with greater intensity of use and addiction in adulthood.
consequences of smoking
Smoking is the main preventable risk factor for chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory infections, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), four of the leading causes of death in the world. Eight million deaths are attributed to tobacco use each year.
They pointed out that the tobacco epidemic continues globally with 1.1 billion people over the age of 14 smoking (6.6 percent women and 32.7 percent men) and 50 million adolescents between 13 and 15 years of age.
They detailed that after the implementation of the FCTC, the global prevalence of consumption decreased in the last 15 years from 22.7 percent in 2007 to 19.6 percent in 2019; however, the main reductions are recorded in middle- and high-income countries, due to the implementation of comprehensive control policies.
Smoking, a deadly addiction
In the Americas, close to one million deaths a year are attributable to tobacco use. In 2020, the prevalence in the region was 16.3 percent, a figure that is below the global prevalence and continues to decline.
In the region, factors such as economic, educational, and urbanization levels have been associated with differences in prevalence. Prevention and control measures, such as the prohibition of consumption in closed and open public spaces for collective coexistence, the substantial increase in prices through taxes and the total prohibition of direct and indirect advertising have contributed to the decrease in tobacco consumption.
However, these advances in controlling the global epidemic and in the Americas region have been threatened by interference from the tobacco industry. In Mexico, these companies introduced flavored capsule cigarettes, which are very popular among the smoking population, and consumed by approximately half of those who smoke.
The market has evolved and the industry has managed to position new and emerging products such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products, which are especially attractive to the adolescent population.
Mexico does not escape this reality. In 2021, the prevalence of tobacco use among adults was 19.1 percent, and the use of electronic cigarettes was 1.6 percent. In the population between 10 and 19 years old it was 4.6 and 1.8 percent, respectively, with a higher prevalence in men.
Also read:
The countries with the greatest increase and decrease in tobacco use
López-Gatell asks to stop normalizing tobacco consumption: “It is one of the main threats to public health”
WHO rewards a Mexican doctor for her fight against tobacco: This is her name and her work
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