The Evidence
Smoking and use of tobacco can also increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases through narrowing blood vessels increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
How do we shape up?
- 15.4% of Torbay adults report that they smoke – just above England and South West averages
- This figure has reduced over last 10 years which is good news, but many people still smoke and it remains a high contributor to disease and early death
- Smoking rates are higher for men (18%) than women (13%)
- People who are unemployed or routine and manual workers smoke significantly more
What can we do?
Giving up smoking is one of the biggest thing we can do to improve our health.
Support to quit is available online (NHS Quit Smoking App) or through local stop smoking services in Torbay. There is also support to access stop smoking aids such as nicotine replacement therapies and vapes.
Get more information, help and advice at Stop Smoking - Your Health Torbay
Vaping - the evidence?
Nicotine vapes have been found to be effective in helping adult smokers to stop smoking. Vapes do not contain many of the chemicals that cigarettes do, and therefore in the short term, they are much less harmful to health than cigarettes. Smokers who switch to vapes significantly reduce their exposure to toxins associated with risks of cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke.
However, vapes are still relatively new, and therefore we don’t yet know their effect on health in the long term. Vapes are not risk free and therefore they shouldn’t be used by non-smokers or by children and young people.
For more information visit Vaping myths and the facts - Better Health - NHS (www.nhs.uk)