Most hospital admissions involve smokers, says HSCIC

According to Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), one in every 20 hospital beds is occupied by someone with smoking-related illnesses.

In a single day, 1260 adults over the age of 35 are admitted in hospital for smoking-related disease. In 2010 and 2011, 460,000 hospital admissions due to smoking were marked in England alone. Of these hospital admissions, 126,200 had a respiratory disease, 160300 had smoking-related cancer such as lung cancer and 135,400 had circulatory diseases such as heart disease – all attributed to smoking.

One in four patients had respiratory conditions caused by smoking while one in 10 had smoking-related cancer out of all types of cancer. A total of 816,000 people set a quit date between 2011 and 2012 with the help of NHS Stop Smoking Services.

The figure has risen by 4% as compared to last year. Around half all these people were successful in quitting smoking even after four weeks. Campaigners said the toll of smoking will put pressure on ministers to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes. This rule has already been set in Australia. It is believed to deter young from taking up smoking habit.

Over 150,000 youngsters aged 11 to 15 start smoking every year in the UK. According to HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan, “These figures present in stark terms the impact smoking has on people’s health and NHS services.”

Amanda Sandford, research manager at charity Action on Smoking and Health, said, “Taken together, the statistics on hospital admissions due to smoking and those seeking help to quit show just how much smokers want to quit, yet how hard it is to do so. Smoking is still by far the biggest single cause of preventable illness and premature death.”

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