The Effect of Second Hand Smoke on Lung Cancer in Different Regions
Group Members: Daniela Cortes, Suhaima Islam, Hadas Feygin, Yael Kirschner
(Alexis L. Brewer Seminar 3 2020)
Second-hand smoke can be just as harmful as first-hand smoke, but is often neglected when discussing the detrimental effects of tobacco on one’s health. Second-hand smoke, or SHS, is the smoke created from the burning of cigarettes and tobacco products, as well as from the smoke exhaled from the smoker. This smoke released into the air by the primary smoker contains more than 7,000 chemicals that have the potential to harm many surrounding people. Children and infants are often the victims of SHS, especially in domestic settings. Over time, SHS exposure leads to a multitude of diseases. To prevent SHS from harming the public, different governments all over the world implement policies to control public smoking. However, not all counties practice effective policies, and each country has a varying history with tobacco products.
Our study aims to analyze one of the most common diseases that results from SHS exposure, lung cancer. Using data from the World Health Organization, we used an ANOVA test and a Tukey HSD test to compare SHS exposure rates and the effects it has on lung cancer in various subregions in the world. We found that the West Pacific Region (WPR) had the highest significant burden of disease (deaths and DALYs) among males and total adults.
