Kicking the habit can reduce risk

To the editor:
February was National Cancer Prevention Month.
To prevent new cancers from starting, scientists look at risk factors and protective factors. Anything that increases your chance of developing cancer is called a cancer risk factor; anything that decreases your chance of developing cancer is called a cancer protective factor.
Some risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot. For example, both smoking and inheriting certain genes are risk factors for some types of cancer, but only smoking can be avoided. Regular exercise and a healthy diet may be protective factors for some types of cancer. Avoiding risk factors and increasing protective factors may lower your risk, but it does not mean that you will not get cancer.
Smoking is the leading cause of cancer in the United States. Smoking increases the risk of many types of cancer, including those of the lung, throat, mouth, nasal cavity, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder and cervix.
A smoker’s risk of cancer can be two to 10 times higher than it is for a person who never smoked. This depends on how much and how long the person smoked. In 2011, about 22 percent of adult men and 16 percent of adult women were smokers. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. In the last 30 years, the total number of smokers has decreased, especially among men. Since the 1980s, deaths caused by lung cancer in men have been decreasing.
Being exposed to second-hand smoke increases the risk of cancer and other diseases. The same cancer-causing chemicals inhaled by tobacco smokers are inhaled in lower amounts by those exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke. Non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke have a higher risk of lung cancer and coronary heart disease. Children exposed to tobacco smoke have higher risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), asthma, ear infections and respiratory infections.
The risk of most health problems from smoking, including cancer and heart and lung disease, can be lowered by stopping smoking. People of all ages can improve their health if they quit smoking. Quitting at a younger age will improve a person’s health even more. People who quit smoking cut their risk of lung cancer by 30 to 50 percent after 10 years compared to people who keep smoking, and they cut their risk of cancer of the mouth or esophagus in half within five years after quitting.
For more information on quitting smoking, please call (260) 726-1853 or (800) 784-8669.
On behalf of the Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition,
Kristi Henry
Community health educator
Jay County Hospital[[In-content Ad]]