Smoking - Chronic Disease Prevention          
Data definitions, limitations & uses • Data Sources

Smoking is widely acknowledged as the most important preventable cause of death in industrialized countries. Each year, in these countries, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides, and fires combined. The direct and indirect costs of smoking in Canada have been estimated at 7.8 and 11.1 billion dollars per year. Over one-half of all premature deaths among smokers are estimated to result from cigarette smoking. The principal causes of death for smokers are cancer and coronary heart disease.

Tobacco use is a major risk factor for diseases of the heart and blood vessels; chronic bronchitis and emphysema; cancers of the lung, larynx, pharynx, oral cavity, esophagus, pancreas, and bladder; and other problems such as respiratory infections and stomach ulcers. In Canada, smoking accounts for 21% of all coronary heart disease deaths, 87% of lung cancer deaths, and 30% of all cancer deaths. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy accounts for 20% to 30% of low birth weight babies, up to 14% of pre-term deliveries, and about 10% of all infant deaths.

In the combined regions of Leeds, Grenville and Lanark, Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington and Hastings and Prince Edward (LGL/KFLA/HPE), about 43% of new mothers who smoked acknowledged smoking during their most recent pregnancy (see figure 1).

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Nationally, the prevalence of smoking has dropped significantly among Canadians 15 and older, from 47% in 1970 to 30% in 1990. Since then, there have been some changes in the prevalence, but no clear trend established. In LGL/KFLA/HPE, 29% of residents 12 and older smoked on either a daily (25.4%), or an occasional basis (4.0%) in 1996. This level is essentially unchanged from the 31% of LGL/KFLA/HPE residents who were smokers in1990.

Former smokers in this region accounted for another 30% of the population in 1996, but the largest group (40.8%) had never smoked. It's clear that smoking in LGL/KFLA/HPE was, and still is more prevalent than in Ontario (see figure 2). Overall, there were more current smokers, and more former smokers in LGL/KFLA/HPE in 1996, when compared to the province.

Among residents living in LGL/KFLA/HPE there is little difference in the proportion of male and female daily smokers. In LGL/KFLA/HPE, 24% of women (see figure 3) and 27% of men (see figure 4) were daily smokers in1996. Among smokers, the prevalence of daily smoking decreases with age. Only 9% of residents 65 and older were daily smokers (see figure 5).

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) or "second-hand smoke" has been shown to cause: developmental effects in children including low birth weight and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS); respiratory illnesses, including bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, middle ear infections, and chronic respiratory symptoms in children and eye and nasal irritation in adults; lung and nasal sinus cancer; and heart disease. Young children are particularly susceptible to the effects of ETS. The home is one of the main sources of this exposure for children.

In LGL/KFLA/HPE, in 1996, about 37% of residents 12 and older lived in a home where someone regularly smoked in the home (see figure 6). This differs from Ontario, where only 31% of residents 12 and older lived in a home where someone regularly smoked in the home.

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Data definitions, limitations & uses
Smoking Status
Smoke Free Homes

Data Sources
Ontario Health Survey, 1990
Ontario Health Survey, 1996