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Smoking Among Seniors in the United States
- Smoking reduces bone
density among postmenopausal women. (p. 716)
- Smoking is causally
related to an increased risk for hip fractures in men and women. (p.
718–719)
- Of the 850,000 fractures
among those over age 65 in the United
States each year, 300,000 are hip fractures. Persons with a hip fracture are
12% to 20% more likely to die than those without a hip fracture. Estimated
costs related to hip fractures range from $7 billion to $10 billion each
year. (p. 698)
- Smoking is related to
nuclear cataracts of the lens of the eye, the most common type of cataract
in the United States. Cataracts are the
leading cause of blindness worldwide and a leading cause of visual loss in
the United States. Smokers have two to three times the risk of developing
cataracts as nonsmokers. (p. 777)
- Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) is consistently among the top 10 most common
chronic health conditions and among the top 10 conditions that limit daily
activities. Prevalence of COPD is highest in men and women 65 years of age
and older (16.7% among men and 12.6% among women). (p. 499)
Citation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Health
Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and has negative
health impacts on people at all stages of life. It harms unborn babies,
infants, children, adolescents, adults, and seniors.
SGR Fact Sheets
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