Living with a smoker raises your risk of developing mouth cancer by 51%, study warns

• Researchers looked at five studies focusing on almost 7,000 people globally  
• Found people who live with smokers are 51% more likely to get mouth cancer 

Is first study to find a causal link between second-hand smoke and oral cancer

A non-smoker who lives with someone who does smoke is at 51 per cent higher risk of developing mouth cancer than if they lived in a smoke-free home, a study shows.

It has long been known that smoking increases the risk of cancers affecting the mouth, throat and lips — as well as the lungs, pancreas, stomach and other organs.

But new findings from King’s College London confirm what experts had feared; second-hand smoke also greatly increases a person’s risk of oral cancer.

The full extent of the health risks from passive inhalation of cigarette, pipe and cigar smoke has been a concern for health officials for several years.

Previous studies have found second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer, but this study is the first of its kind to link it to mouth cancer.

There are almost half a million oral cancer diagnoses every year, including 8,300 Britons.

Tobacco smoke, which is full of carcinogens, has been linked to one in five cancer deaths worldwide.

It is thought one in three adults and 40 per cent of children suffer from ‘involuntary smoking’ as a result of being around someone who does smoke.

Data from more than 6,900 people from around the world revealed individuals who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at 51 per cent higher risk of oral cancer.

The analysis, published in the journal Tobacco Control, also found that consistent exposure increases a person’s risk increase even further.

A person who lives for 10 – 15 years in a home with a smoker is more than twice as likely to get mouth cancer than someone who avoids all smoke, for example.

The researchers say their analysis of five studies ‘supports a causal association’ between second-hand smoke exposure and oral cancer.

‘The identification of the harmful effects of second-hand smoke exposure provides guidance to public health professionals, researchers, and policy-makers as they develop and deliver effective second-hand smoke exposure prevention programmes,’ adds study co-author Professor Saman Warnakulasuriya, of KCL.

The stereotype of a cannabis smoker is one of a laid back, lackadaisical, sloth-like individual who is trapped in a lethargic stupor, with exercise far from their mind.

But a new study from researchers at the University of Miami claims this is an unfair representation of the one in six people who use the class B drug.

Data from more than 20,000 Americans shows that marijuana users have comparable exercise levels to non-users.

The American researchers admit their findings fly in the face of previous research on the topic, which almost universally show the sedentary stoner stereotype to be true.

 

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