A study in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that smoking accounts for 900,000 deaths a year in India, and without action, this number could hit the million mark by the 2010s. Researchers predict that smoking could soon cause 20% of all male deaths and 5% of all female deaths between the ages of 30 and 69. They also found that on average, men who smoke lose up to six to ten years of their lives.
As part of the study, a research team from t he University of Toronto, surveyed deaths among a sample of 1.1 million homes all over India. They discovered that, among men who died between the ages of 30 and 69, smoking caused 38% of tuberculosis deaths, 32% of deaths from cancer and 20% from cardiovascular disease.
There are currently around 120 million smokers in India. The country’s health minister expressed alarm at the findings and stated that India has been putting measures in place to educate the public of the dangers of smoking.
Source: BBC News, 14 February 2008