Passive smoking causes 1 in 100 deaths

The shocking toll of smoking on the health of non-smokers has been revealed by a world-wide study showing that passive smoking is linked to 1 in 100 deaths worldwide - with a third of them being children.

The research found that around 603,000 deaths worldwide were due to second hand smoke. By far the largest cause was heart disease, which accounted for 379,000 of those deaths. The study is the first to assess the global impact of second hand smoke.

Undertaken by the World Health Organization, the study looked at data from nearly 200 countries. All told, 40% of children, 33% of non-smoking men and 35% non-smoking women were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2004, the researchers found.

The effects of second-hand smoke are particularly dangerous to children, especially in poorer countries in Africa and South East Asia, were the combination of smoke exposure and infectious diseases lead to over 160,000 deaths due to respiratory infections.

In addition, the lungs of children in homes with smokers may develop more slowly than those of children raised in smoke-free homes.

Commenting on the survey result, British Heart Foundation spokeswoman Betty McBride called for more government action: "These figures should make smokers stop and think about the impact they’re having on other people’s health, particularly children’s. They should also serve as encouragement to government to go further and promote smoke free homes and cars."

She also noted that these figures show that the UK ban on smoking in public places was the right thing to do: "Breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke has deadly consequences. This study is ample proof that we were right to introduce the ban on smoking in public places in this country."

The study results are published in The Lancet.

This article was published on Fri 26 November 2010