Disease trends and epidemiological patterns

Disease Trends

Specific population disease trend change in the past 50 years:

Smoking, lung cancer, and the aging of the population

By the time the U.S. Surgeon General released its report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General in 1964, smoking was an ingrained part of American culture. Before the report was released, doctors endorsed certain brands of cigarettes as more healthful than others in advertisements; cigarette companies were popular sponsors of family broadcasting and smoking was glamorized on the silver screen. A mere 44% of Americans believed smoking was linked to lung cancer (The reports of the Surgeon General, 2013, NLM). However, the Report "held cigarette smoking responsible for a 70% increase in the mortality rate of smokers over non-smokers" (The reports of the Surgeon General, 2013, NLM). An intensive anti-smoking public health campaign resulted and reducing smoking rates became an accepted part of public health care strategy, with an eye upon future healthcare costs. "In 1965, Congress required all cigarette packages distributed in the United States to carry a health warning, and since 1970 this warning is made in the name of the Surgeon General. In 1969, cigarette advertising on television and radio was banned, effective September 1970" (The reports of the Surgeon General, 2013, NLM). However, a generation of persons had already become physically addicted to smoking and even today, the legacy of the addictive nature of smoking remains embedded within the needs of the American healthcare system.

Lung cancer is a progressive illness: its effects are visible only over time. One puff of a cigarette does not cause cancer but the effects of smoking are manifested due to habituated use. As the population as a whole ages, rates of lung cancer have actually increased, despite an extensive anti-smoking public health campaign. "Mortality attributable to malignant neoplasms of the lung and associated organs has risen sharply since 1950. Here again mortality rises with age, in this instance is significantly higher in general among males as compared to females, and has a multitude of etiologies, although the consumption of tobacco products and exposure to second-hand smoke are important risk factors in the epidemic of this form of cancer" (Williams n.d.: 24). Although smoking has gone down overall, lung cancer remains the most common deadly kind of cancer for both men and women. While the rates of mortality for men still are higher than that of women, the rates of women contracting lung cancer are increasing (Newest stats show lung cancer rates dropping for men, but still going up for women, 2007, Lung Cancer Alliance). The reasons for this are unclear: women's generally longer lifespans may mean that the cancer has longer to manifest itself. Even though quitting reduces the likelihood of contracting lung cancer, the increased risk is not eliminated.