Health impacts and consequences of smoking

Write a brief profile of someone you have cared for whose health has been affected by at least one of Public Health England’s priority public health challenges (PHE 2014, 2016):

• Obesity
• Smoking
• Harmful drinking
• Harmful drug / substance use
• Social disadvantage in early years
• Dementia
• Self-harm / Suicide
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Tuberculosis

You should indicate how a range of determinants of health have impacted on this person’s experiences and summarise their resultant needs for care.

Public Health England (2014) From Evidence into Action: Opportunities to Protect and Improve the Nation’s Health. London: PHE.

1. Community Profile (600 words)

Include information here from the Public Health England ‘Health Profile’ regarding the area in which your chosen person lives.

Available at:

Compare the experiences of this local population with the UK population overall in relation to health and well-being and health inequalities. Summarise what you think are the local health needs and priorities for services.

Smoking results in the release of active substances like aerosol particles, gases, and the pharmacologically active alkaloid named nicotine into the lungs and subsequently into the blood stream. Smoking is generally associated with negative impacts on health. These include cardiovascular diseases, peripheral vascular diseases, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, among others (Singh, C.R. and Kathiresan 2015). Smoking also imposes health risks on pregnant women (Anblagan et al. 2013). Passive smoking also impacts the lives of individuals associated with smokers and increases the risks of developing lung cancer, respiratory distress, among others (Cao et al. 2015). Smoking is the most significant cause associated with preventable deaths in England. Each year 80,000 individuals die in England due to long-term effects of smoking. The poison present in the tar of the cigarettes when enter the bloodstream causes clot formation, increases the blood pressure as well heart rate and causes narrowing of the arteries resulting in reduced amount of oxygen reaching the various organs of the body. This in turn increases the risk of heart attacks or strokes (Nhs.uk 2018). Other diseases include stomach ulcers or cancers, kidney cancer, premature ageing, osteoporosis, brain aneurysms, mouth and throat cancers, reduced fertility, cervical cancer, among others (Cancer.ie 2018). Studies have revealed quitting smoking can reduce the risks associated with development of various forms of cancer and thereby increases life expectancy rates (Holford et al. 2014; Jha et al. 2013). This report provides an outline of the negative impacts of smoking; the key issues associated with smoking in England and lastly provide a conclusion or recommendation based on the available facts.

The learner’s intent is to link the effects of smoking with various health consequences. The intent is to provide the details of the effects of smoking on the cardiovascular activity based on an individual as well as a community level perspective. The region selected for this report is Basildon. The report provides a health summary of the region of Basildon when compared to the national average of England. Moreover, the learner’s intent is also to identify the various intervention strategies associated with the aim to reduce smoking rates and the smoking related diseases in England.

Comparison of health and well-being in Basildon with UK population

Key issues identified

The key issues identified is with regards to smoking and the associated consequences. Smoking has been found to be associated with various factors such as environmental, socio-demographic and behavioural (Al-Kubaisy et al. 2017). The environmental factors that were found to influence the smoking rates among the youth in the United Kingdom were parental smoking and attitudes, sibling and peer smoking, family environments and peer norms or attitudes. The socio-demographic factors influencing smoking were found to be age, socio-economic status of parents, personal finance and ethnicity. The behavioural factors were found to be school performance, self esteem, lifestyle, attitudes towards smokers or smoking, health concerns and stress (York.ac.uk 2018).

The region of Basildon in England had majority of the population living under poor socio-economic conditions. Socio-economic conditions plays an important role in influencing smoking rates particularly among the youth. This is due to the fact that poor socio-economic conditions is associated with lack of social support, lack of education and motivation, poor finances, psychological differences like self efficacy, among others. In England, increased rates of smoking is particularly observed among the working population belonging to the low socio-economic strata (Hiscock et al. 2012). Moreover, smoking is associated with increased rates of deaths in the United Kingdom and one of the principal cause is heart attacks and strokes. Smoking not only affects the cardiac functions but also blocks the arteries that transfer blood to the various parts of the body. This in turn leads to atherosclerosis and other conditions associated with peripheral vascular diseases. Smoking prevalence among the adults were also found to be high among the population of Basildon. The population of Basildon were also found to suffer from reduction in life expectancy rates among both men and women and this was particularly applicable in the case of the most deprived regions of Basildon. The rate of premature deaths of individuals below the age of 75 years due to cardiovascular diseases and cancer was also a cause of concern for the population of Basildon. Another health issue identified in the region of Basildon, which was a cause of concern, is physical inactivity and increased cases of obesity among both children and adults. Another key issue is increased rates of hip fractures among the individuals, which could be due to high rates of smoking. Smoking is known to make the bones brittle and increase the chances of developing osteoporosis. Moreover, other issues gripping the youth of Basildon were found to be enhanced teenage pregnancy rates, reduction in the attainment of GCSE and the rates of breast feeding initiation is also far worse as compared to the rest of England. The priorities that were identified and needs to be tackled are child and adult obesity, health inequalities caused as a result of poverty, low socio-economic conditions, among others (Fingertipsreports.phe.org.uk 2018). Some of the smoking statistics of England provided by the NHS reveals that in 2016 smoking prevalence among the youth was 15.5%, which is significantly less than the previous years. However, smoking related hospital admissions were far greater and was found to be 474,000 in 2015 and 2016. Smoking related deaths in England contributes to 16% of the total deaths reported (Gov.uk 2018).

Health priorities and needs in Basildon

Apart from the health issues identified, the report also describes the various strategies that have been undertaken in order to reduce the rates of smoking among the population of England. Smoking is particularly prevalent among the youth and it has been found that 82% of the individuals take up smoking as a result of initiation of the smoking habits from their teenage years. Various school intervention programs, community prevention strategies, mass media campaigns, health policies and law enforcements strategies have been applied to reduce or influence the rates of smoking behaviour among the population of England, particularly the youth. School and community based interventions not only provides education about the ill effects of smoking but also helps to provide strategies that can help the individuals to quit smoking (York.ac.uk 2018).

Anti-smoking campaigns, health education, mass media campaigns, strict policies in schools and workplaces were also identified to reduce the rates of smoking. Law enforcement strategies have also helped to reduce the smoking rates particularly among the youth. In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to sell cigarettes to individuals below the age of 16 years. Community interventions were also found to support non-smoking behaviours among the youth. The NHS has also developed a Stop smoking service and their main objective is to provide smoking cessation services to the local population of England. This service carries out regular supervisions, develops generic risk assessments, provides informational materials and medications to patients and others individuals. Nurses have a significant role to play in preventing smoking. The efficacy of nurse’s role in smoking cessation is based on smoking cessation interventions like quit smoking advices, counselling, among others. Studies have shown that training nurses in carrying out smoking cessation programs are a cost-effective technique to reduce the rates of smoking (Rice, Hartmann?Boyce and Stead 2013; Richards et al. 2014). The Nursing and Midwifery council also plays an important role in carrying out smoking cessation programs and its main function is to protect the public and the key areas of principle are preparation, service, recognition and responsibility. The NMC helps to identify the various environmental factors associated with the health and well-being of individuals and it has identified smoking as one of the behavioural factors associated with poor health of individuals (Nmc.org.uk 2018).

Conclusion

This report therefore provides an outline of smoking and the various health related issues associated with it. This report also indicates that smoking is one of the most important causes associated with preventable deaths in the United Kingdom. The region of interest for this report was Basildon and various health inequalities were found in this region thereby resulting in premature deaths and decreased life expectancies of this region. These health inequalities were found to be much higher than the national average of England. Poor socio-economic conditions was found to be one of the most important causes of the health conditions prevailing in Basildon.

Intervention strategies to reduce smoking rates

Some of the recommendations that can be provided is positive thinking, changes in diet, changes in the choice of drinks, identify the times associated with cigarette cravings and engage in other activities in order to distract the mind, getting support from family members and friends, among others. Exercises can also help to reduce the cravings associated with smoking. Peer pressure plays an important role in influencing smoking rates. Thus it is necessary to engage in activities with non-smokers in order to reduce the rates of smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy or the use of nicotine patches also plays an important role in reducing the rates of smoking and thereby decreasing the smoking associated health concerns. E-cigarettes, nasal sprays and nicotine gums also play an important role in reducing the rates of cigarette smoking. Reports have also revealed that apart from the NHS stop smoking services se of E-cigarettes by smokers enabled them to quit smoking effectively and successfully. Moreover, use of the medication Champix also helps to reduce the nicotine cravings (Nhs.uk 2018). Thus, it can be concluded that smoking is one of the most important factors that have caused a serious health concern among the population of England and extensive prevention strategies are needed in order to reduce the smoking rates and smoking related health issues.

You should provide an outline of your chosen health issue and examine how and why it poses a challenge to your chosen individual and the wider community. In relation to both an individual/family focus, and also a population/community focus, what health promotion strategies are being used to improve health and well-being?

Include a person-centred narrative here related to the health challenge. This can be a link from literature, documentary, NHS choices, or a summary of a real-life, face-to-face conversation (must be anonymised). Discuss this narrative with your supervisor and the narrative discussion must be entered onto the supervision record and signed by your supervisor.

References list

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