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Cricket chiefs draw line on ads 

CRICKET Australia will surrender hundreds of thousands of dollars in boundary line advertising after it emerged it may have been illegally promoting tobacco.

The snap backdown last night came after the federal Health Department launched an investigation into advertisements in Hindi on the boundary rope for Australia-India Test matches in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.

The ads for a company that makes chewing tobacco and mouth-wash were aimed at the massive TV audience in India.

They also featured at the Twenty20 games in Sydney and Melbourne and were due to be shown during a series of one-day internationals this month.

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• Cricket Australia in tobacco ad row 

Cricket Australia is facing fines of up to $66,000 for displaying ads in Hindi at the Test cricket series against India that may have been promoting tobacco.

News Ltd reports Cricket Australia has decided to pull the ads, surrendering hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.

The federal Health Department has launched an investigation into the ads in Hindi on the boundary rope for Australia-India Test matches in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.

The ads were for a company that makes chewing tobacco and mouthwash and aimed at the massive TV audience in India.

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Progress continues into 2012 from statewide success in 2011 

OVER the course of 2011, great strides were made throughout the Golden State in protecting Californians where they are most vulnerable to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure – their homes. Numerous state, county, and city officials have recognized the need to address SHS in multi-unit housing. . . .

At the city level, municipalities all over Los Angeles County including Pasadena, Baldwin Park, and Compton took the initiative in assuring the health of residents by supplementing or adding to their municipal codes to require smoke-free spaces within apartments and condominiums.

Raising Awareness in Cerritos and Artesia

Healthy Lungs @ Home: Cerritos-Artesia (HLH: Cerritos-Artesia) applauds the leadership demonstrated at all levels of government and congratulates those cities in Los Angeles County for prioritizing the health of their citizens through the local smoke-free multi-unit housing ordinances that have been enacted. . . .

How Cerritos and Artesia Residents Can Get Involved

Despite the progress in 2011, there is still much work left to do in protecting apartment and condominium residents from secondhand smoke. For example, SB 332 does not specifically require all landlords to ban smoking; it only says they are allowed to do it. That is why HLH: Cerritos-Artesia continues to foster discussion about how secondhand smoke in the home can be addressed.

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Studies on smoking cessation in ethnic minorities 

Telephone counseling services (also known as quitlines) are an effective intervention for Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers living in the U.S., and should be incorporated into current smoking cessation services, according to a study published January 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Quitlines have played an essential role in helping people quit smoking in the U.S. These services, however, had never been tested with Asian immigrants who may have limited proficiency in English. Dr. Shu-Hong Zhu, a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), and his colleagues designed an intervention to test the effectiveness of quitline counseling for Asian immigrant smokers.

The study was embedded into the California quitline service operated by UCSD. Dr. Zhu and his team developed a culturally tailored counseling protocol and tested its effectiveness in Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers in a large randomized trial. Participants were 2,277 adult smokers who were first time callers to the Asian-language lines of the California Smokers' Helpline.

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Smoking Cessation In Ethnic Minorities 

Telephone counseling services (also known as quitlines) are an effective intervention for Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers living in the U.S., and should be incorporated into current smoking cessation services, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Quitlines have played an essential role in helping people quit smoking in the U.S. These services, however, had never been tested with Asian immigrants who may have limited proficiency in English. Dr. Shu-Hong Zhu, a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), and his colleagues designed an intervention to test the effectiveness of quitline counseling for Asian immigrant smokers.

The study was embedded into the California quitline service operated by UCSD. Dr. Zhu and his team developed a culturally tailored counseling protocol and tested its effectiveness in Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers in a large randomized trial. Participants were 2,277 adult smokers who were first time callers to the Asian-language lines of the California Smokers' Helpline.

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The Effects of a Multilingual Telephone Quitline for Asian Smokers: A Randomized Controlled Trial 

Background

Although telephone counseling services (quitlines) have become a popular behavioral intervention for smoking cessation in the United States, such services are scarce for Asian immigrants with limited English proficiency. In this study, we tested the effects of telephone counseling for smoking cessation in Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers. . . .

Conclusions

Telephone counseling was effective for Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers. This protocol should be incorporated into existing quitlines, with possible extension to other Asian languages.

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• Studies on smoking cessation in ethnic minorities 

Telephone counseling services (also known as quitlines) are an effective intervention for Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers living in the U.S., and should be incorporated into current smoking cessation services, according to a study published January 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Quitlines have played an essential role in helping people quit smoking in the U.S. These services, however, had never been tested with Asian immigrants who may have limited proficiency in English. Dr. Shu-Hong Zhu, a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), and his colleagues designed an intervention to test the effectiveness of quitline counseling for Asian immigrant smokers.

The study was embedded into the California quitline service operated by UCSD. Dr. Zhu and his team developed a culturally tailored counseling protocol and tested its effectiveness in Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-speaking smokers in a large randomized trial. Participants were 2,277 adult smokers who were first time callers to the Asian-language lines of the California Smokers' Helpline.

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Lifetime Risks of Cardiovascular Disease 

BACKGROUND

The lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease have not been reported across the age spectrum in black adults and white adults.

METHODS

We conducted a meta-analysis at the individual level using data from 18 cohort studies involving a total of 257,384 black men and women and white men and women whose risk factors for cardiovascular disease were measured at the ages of 45, 55, 65, and 75 years. . . .

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in risk-factor burden translate into marked differences in the lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, and these differences are consistent across race and birth cohorts. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.)

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• Smoking, diabetes increase risk of heart attacks, strokes, death  

They're called "risk factors" for a reason - people with high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and/or a smoking habit are much more likely to have heart attacks, strokes and other manifestations of cardiovascular disease, including death.

A new study coming out in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine analyzed health data on more than 250,000 adults to confirm that those who had any of these risk factors were in greater peril than those who didn't. The more risk factors a person had - and the more severe they were - the greater the lifetime risk of a "cardiovascular event." This trend held for both men and women, and for both whites and blacks.

The raw data in the new study came from 18 so-called cohort studies - including the Framingham Heart Study, the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial, the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Artherosclerorisis - that examined people at least once when they were around the ages of 45, 55, 65 and 75.

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Dual smokers have different profile 

Dual smokers -- people who smoke cigarettes and cigars -- fit a different profile than cigarette-only smokers, a U.S. public health organization says.

Legacy, a public health organization dedicated to helping people quit smoking or never start, showed adult smokers who indicated they use both cigarettes and cigars -- 12.5 percent -- were more likely to be young, African-American, male, of low educational attainment and unemployed compared with cigarette-only smokers.

"While this data is disturbing, it is not surprising," Amanda Richardson, director for research and evaluation at Legacy, said in a statement. "Previous research has shown that cigars and cigarillos are already on the rise among young adults, especially as lower prices and sweet flavors may add to their appeal. In addition, minority and underserved populations that are most at-risk for dual use are those same populations that often bear a disproportionate brunt of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality." . . .

The study was published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

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Nearly one million California children still at risk of secondhand smoke exposure CORRECTION: [Nov. 2, 2011] 

CORRECTION: [Nov. 2, 2011]

A sample size miscalculation in the original version of this publication resulted in errors to the estimated number of children affected by secondhand smoke, although the percentages, interpretation and findings remain correct. The errors were related to pooling three cycles of CHIS data. The Center regrets the error. A corrected version of the policy brief is attached, as well as an updated version of the original press release. Specifically, the following numbers were revised: The total estimated number of children annually affected by secondhand smoke was revised from 2.5 million to 966,000. The total number of children estimated to be exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes each year was revised from 561,000 to 224,000. The total number of children estimated to live in homes where there is an adult or teen smoker in the household, but smoking is never allowed in the home, was revised from 1.9 million to 742,000. . . .

Despite having the second-lowest smoking rate in the nation, California is still home to nearly one million children under the age of 12 who are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Using data from several cycles of the California Health Interview Survey, the study's authors estimate that 224,000 children are directly exposed to secondhand smoke in the home. Another 742,000 are at risk because they live in a home where another family member is a smoker, even though smoking may not be allowed in the home itself.

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• Association of smoking, physical activity, and dietary habits with socioeconomic variables: a cross-sectional study in adults on both sides of the Hungarian-Romanian border 

Background

The association between socioeconomic status and health-related behaviours has been clarified in several epidemiological studies. The aim of this study was to reveal the socioeconomic differences in health-related behaviours and in nutritional status of Hungarian and Romanian citizens living on both sides of the border. . . .

Results

The prevalence of smoking was similar in Hungarians and Romanians (33.2% and 36.4%). The frequency of "unhealthy diet" was 70.6% in Hungarians and 75.2% in Romanians. Physical inactivity was more prevalent in Romanians (73.2%) than in Hungarians (32.0%), while the prevalence of obesity was higher in Hungarians (22.0%) than in Romanians (16.5%). Based on the univariate logistic regression models the risk of smoking was higher among those with medium educational level (ORHu=1.66) and poor financial conditions (ORHu=3.13) in Hungarians. The risk of unhealthy diet was higher among the low educated (ORHu=1.77; ORRo=7.91) and among those with poor financial conditions (ORHu=2.05; ORRo=4.25). None of the socioeconomic factors was associated with leisure time physical inactivity. In the multivariate models obesity was associated with medium level of education in Hungarians, and with unhealthy diet in Romanians (ORRo=2.10). Physically inactive Hungarians were more (ORHu=1.74), whereas inactive Romanians were less (ORRo=0.64) likely to be obese than physically active people from the same country.

Conclusions

The present study shows that socioeconomic status is associated with health-related behaviours in a small area of Hungary and Romania. The results highlight the need for developing interventional strategies, focusing more on people in lower socioeconomic status, in order to reduce the existing inequalities in health and health-related behaviours.

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Cancer Among Hispanics with HIV/AIDS 

The most common non-AIDS-defining cancers in patients with HIV are anal, lung, and liver cancers and Hodgkin lymphoma. These four cancers made up nearly half of all non-AIDS-defining cancers diagnosed in this population from 2001 through 2005. Higher risks for these cancers reflect co-infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B and C viruses, and Epstein-Barr virus, as well as higher smoking rates in the HIV/AIDS population. Thus, although fewer people now die of AIDS, cancer is emerging as an important cause of death for the HIV-infected population.

Preventing cancer

Preventing cancers that are increasing among the HIV-infected population is now a major focus of people who treat those with HIV. This effort includes trying to combat viral co-infections that cause cancer through prevention, screening, and treatment and avoiding exposure to other risk factors, such as smoking. Both men and women who are infected with HIV should discuss screening options for cancer with their medical providers. The risk of lung cancer can be reduced by quitting smoking. Because HIV-infected people have a higher risk of lung cancer, it is especially important that they do not smoke.

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Cancer Among African Americans with HIV/AIDS  

Racial and ethnic minorities in America have been hit harder than white Americans by the HIV/AIDS epidemic-they make up about one-third of the population but two-thirds of all cases. In 2009, African Americans made up 14 percent of the population but accounted for 44 percent of all new HIV infections. And Hispanics made up 16 percent of the population but 20 percent of new cases in 2009.

All patients infected with HIV, including racial and ethnic minorities, are benefiting from new, more effective therapies developed over the last 15 years. But as patients are living longer, the distribution of cancer has shifted dramatically. While the types of cancer that have been typically associated with AIDS progression are on the decline in the HIV/AIDS population, other types of cancer are now on the rise. . . .

The most common non-AIDS-defining cancers in patients with HIV are anal, lung, and liver cancers and Hodgkin lymphoma. These four cancers made up nearly half of all non-AIDS-defining cancers diagnosed in this population from 2001 through 2005. Higher risks for these cancers reflect co-infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B and C viruses, and Epstein-Barr virus, as well as higher smoking rates in the HIV/AIDS population. Thus, although fewer people now die of AIDS, cancer is emerging as an important cause of death for the HIV-infected population.

Preventing cancer

Preventing cancers that are increasing among the HIV-infected population is now a major focus of people who treat those with HIV. This effort includes trying to combat viral co-infections that cause cancer through prevention, screening, and treatment and avoiding exposure to other risk factors, such as smoking. Both men and women who are infected with HIV should discuss screening options for cancer with their medical providers. The risk of lung cancer can be reduced by quitting smoking. Because HIV-infected people have a higher risk of lung cancer, it is especially important that they do not smoke.

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• Dual Users of Both Cigarettes and Cigars Are More Likely to be Young, African-American, and Male 

To date, however, the FDA has not exercised its authority to assert jurisdiction on cigar products.

Although the tax structure is not a part of the act, tax treatment of cigars differs from cigarettes, making many cigar products less costly. This is concerning, as there is a direct correlation between higher costs and lower consumption of tobacco products.

Cigars can be just as harmful as cigarettes. Like cigarettes, cigars pose significant health risks, contributing to cancers of the mouth, lung, esophagus, and larynx and possibly contributing to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In order to more fully understand tobacco use patterns, researchers from Legacy - a national public health organization dedicated to helping people quit smoking or never start - analyzed the demographics of a sample of people who smoked cigarettes and cigars.

Researchers found that this subgroup of dual-use smokers fit a different profile than cigarette-only smokers. Results from the study show that adult smokers who indicated that they use both cigarettes AND cigars (12.5 percent), were more likely to be young, African American, male, of low educational attainment and unemployed, compared with cigarette-only smokers.

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