Senior News October, 2001 Vol. 20. No.  10

 

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Audio newspapers: Reading Service provides local newspapers on KEET-TV

Dial-A-Ride: Proposed fare increase could prove harmful

Can breast cancer be prevented?

What's the news about smoking?

Hypothermia-in my own home?

NutriMinute

Trinidad: Home Delivered Meals nears its one-year anniversary

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What's the news about smoking?
by William A. Beers

Smoking and the Age of First Heart Attack

Researchers at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadara, Israel reviewed the records of 1,510 consecutive patients diagnosed with their first heart attack (acute myocardial infarction, AMI). Among male smokers the median age of their first AMI was 56.6 years. Among male non-smokers the median age of their first AMI was 70.4 years. Comparable figures for women were 66.8 years for the first AMI in smokers and 70.4 years for the first AMI in non-smokers.

Smoking and Urinary Tract Cancer

Individual studies have indicated that there is strong support for an association between cigarette smoking and urinary tract cancer. The degree of that association, however, has never been quantified. To meet this need, the authors applied statistical analysis to 43 epidemiological studies. The data strongly suggested that current cigarette smokers have an approximately threefold higher risk of urinary tract cancer than non-smokers. Going beyond that, they estimate that in Europe approximately half of urinary tract cancer cases and one-third of cases among women might be attributable to cigarette smoking.

Smoking and the Risk of Hip Fracture

Tobacco smoking, by virtue of its adverse effects on bone mineral density, has been recognized as increasing the risk of hip fracture in women. A study conducted at the Copenhagen University Hospital was designed to ascertain whether smoking might have the same adverse effect on men. More than 13,000 women and 17,000 men, who had initially been examined between 1964 and 1992, were followed until 1997 for their first hospital admission because of hip fracture. Seven hundred twenty two such fractures were identified in women and 447 in men. No gender differences in smoking-related risk of hip fracture were identified.

How Can I Stop Smoking?

Some people stop smoking cold-turkey and make it look easy! Others try nicotine gum, the patch and other medications with limited success. Often this is because nicotine substitutes and medications do not address the most important factor in the smoking habit: the mind.

William A Beers CHT is a certified hypnotherapist who operated the Stop Smoking in 22 Minutes Clinic in Eureka from 1985 to 1998. He helped several thousand smokers to quit using clinical hypnosis. He has received numerous requests recently to re-open his practice. Call 707-786-4917 for a free telephone interview. His program can be seen on the internet at www.humboldt1.com/~gojolly/, and you can e-mail him at jivabill@humboldt1.com.