Essay: Cigarette Smoking's Impact On Lung Cancer In Australia - 5-Year Study.

Demonstrates poor knowledge of main concepts, terminology, and frameworks relative to subject

Demonstrates limited knowledge of main concepts, theories, terminology, and frameworks relative to the subject

Demonstrates some knowledge of main concepts, terminology, and frameworks relative to the subject

Demonstrates considerable Relies on too few sources, unclear why some sources were selected, and many citations are incomplete or unstandardized

Uses a range of sources appropriate to the topic. Sources meet assignment requirements, but may lack breadth, rigor or relevance. Some citations are incomplete or unstandardized

Appropriately uses sources that display a rich diversity of content, provenance and/or format.

Citations are accurate, complete and standardized knowledge of main concepts, terminology, and frameworks relative to the subject

Methods for projecting the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases in aging populations:

Knowledge of the signs and symptoms and risk factors of lung cancer in Australia: mixed methods study.

Widening socioeconomic disparity in lung cancer incidence among men in New South Wales,

Project summary

Cigarette is one of the most significant factors that have impacted the health of the Australians and become common global issues in world today. ABS reports that there is a drop in the cigarette smoking in past decade but still it is one of the main reasons for the lung cancer in the country. There are many studies that indicate relation between cigarette and lung cancer. Majority of the studies depicts that the main cause of lung cancer across the world is cigarette smoking. Lung cancer is considered to be the fourth leading cause of the deaths in the Australia. So, we aimed to identify the smoking of cigarette on cause of lung cancer. This study will be conducted in the geographical regions of Australia. The data collection and further details regarding the cases of lung cancer due to smoking are collected from the government hospitals of New South Wales considering all the individuals that between 25-55 years admitted in the period of January 2019 till the December 2019. The data will be collected every year for an overall period of 5 years so the overall period of the study will be from January 2019 to December 2024. For the successful study the data will be collected from 40 patients that are suffering from lung cancer and they will be analysed for the next 5 years to identify the impact of smoking on their health. The main impact of the study is expected to spread awareness that may possibly contribute to control cigarette smoking and its impact on health among the people and support government for developing policy and control the issue.

The wide negative impact of the smoking on the health of the individuals has resulted to one of the common health issue across the globe. According to Martin (2018), tobacco causes six million deaths per year globally it is the direct cause of one of the five deaths in USA. It is identified that nearly 20% of the global population smokes cigarette. Lung cancer is considered to be the fifth leading cause of the deaths in the Australia. There are various studies carried out on the impact of smoking on health and its effect that results to cause of lung cancer (Martin 2018). In Australia, there are 84% of new lung cancers in men and 77% cancer in women due to smoking. It is the most common form of cancer that results to the death of male and second most common among females (Government 2012). It is also identified that there will 12741 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed in year 2018 consists of 7212 males and 5529 females. It is also estimated that there will be 9.2% new cases of cancer in 2018. In addition to this, it is also estimated that there will be around 9198 deaths from lung cancer in the current year (Australia 2018).

Lung cancer is the one of the major contributor and fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in year 2014 and will possibly be at the same position in 2018. It is one of the main causes of death in Australia in year 2016. There were almost 8410 deaths from lung cancer in consists of 5023 males and 3387 females in year 2016. Although, there is a decrease in the smoking habits by 10% in year 2014-15 in comparison to year 1995 still smoking is a gigantic issue for health (ABS 2017).

Background

Figure 1: Most common causes of cancer death in 2018 (Source: Cancer Australia, 2018).

Figure 2: Estimated most common cancers diagnosed 2018 (Source: Cancer Australia, 2018).

There are presence of the several chemical in the tobacco smoke that affects the health of the smoker and associated population. The main dangerous components were tar, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, oxidizing chemicals, radioactive compounds and metals. There are several negative effects of the smoking on the body of the human. It negatively impacts the respiratory system that leads to irritation of trachea and larynx. It may lead to swelling or narrowing of lung airways. It also impacts the circulatory system, immune system that results to longer lasting illness and increased risk of stroke and heart stroke due to blockages of the blood supply. This also leads to affects the sexual health and musculoskeletal system. The smoking not only affects the smokers but also have severe impact on the second smokers. Long term smoking leads to caner of lung, mouth, tongue, mouth and raise chance of other cancers (BetterhealthChannel 2018). It also leads to other lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary and chronic bronchitis disease. The main types of cancers identified due to smoking include non-small cell lung cancer which is caused due to mucus-producing cells and develop about 40% lung cancers. Squamous cell carcinoma is another caner caused that develops in larger airways of lung. Small cell lung cancer is another type of cancer that commonly begins in the middle of the lungs and quickly spread in comparison to non-small cell lung cancer.

The main symptoms indicating the issues are shortness of breath, hoarseness, acute chest pain and couching with pain (Cancer Counci 2018). The main identified reasons for the lungs cancer identified by cancer council are smoking tobacco, second-hand smoke and exposure to asbestos. The possible ways to diagnose the issues are Chest X-ray, PET scan and CT scan. It is also identified that the person that is diagnosed with lung cancer are not surviving for a period of more than 5 years. it is also identified that the addiction of the smoking is alarming situation that has lead to indulge large number of people especially the 21.7% of the person who has not completed 12 years were having lower education in comparison to the educated ones and 10-12% of the person between age 16-17 years. So, this study we will be examining the familiarity of the existing research and the results gained to identify the relationship between the smoking and cause of lung cancer by collecting the data of the patients that visits the governmental hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.  

The main goal of the study is to increase awareness of the severe impact of smoking on the health of the individuals. It will also be focused towards developing more awareness among the young population to know the risks of smoking and short and long term consequences of smoking on the health of the smoker. The study also spread awareness towards the impact on the second-hand smoke which is also having almost equal health consequences on the associates that spend time with the regular smokers. This study will be supporting for the identification of the various issues caused by continuous smoking to the smoker along with the family members, children’s and others (Xie 2014). The other objective of the research is to develop structured approach to overcome the increasing cases of lung cancer and other issues that arise due to smoking. Ministry of Health of NSW and Department of Health, Australia are expected to provide assistance in monetary and other terms. At the same time, the long time of the study and cost incurring in the study might possibly create biasness long time of follow up.   

Study goals and objectives

The proposed approach that will be applied for the purpose of carrying out the research will be to collect the information from the patients admitted to the government hospitals at New South Wales, Australia. The study will be carried out during the month of January 2019. The data to be collected will be of the lung cancer patients that are admitted to different government hospitals of NSW in Australia.

It is essential for a researcher to have proper design of the research study and methods to collect relevant data. In order to carry out the research objectives, the research will be conducted to patients admitted in the government hospitals at New South Wales, Australia. The study will be carried out from the month of June 2018. The data to be collected will be of the lung cancer patients that are admitted to different government hospitals of NSW in Australia. It is an appropriate area of conducting the research study in effective manner (Yu 2017). The target population of the study will be all patients of lung cancer admitted during the month of June 2018 in these hospitals. All of the patients will be within the range of 25 to 55 years. For the successful completion of research objectives the research study will be conducted on 40 patients of lung cancer for next five years. The condition of these patients will be analysed regularly for next 5 years to investigate that cigarette smoking is a paramount cause of lung cancer. The data will be collected on yearly basis for 5 years. Body Mass Index will also be used to measure the records related to sex, age, history of the disease and socioeconomic factors that are essential to attain reliable research outcomes.

As the research study will be conducted continuously for 5 years on the target population so that the research design is analytical, observational and cohort study. In order to collect reliable and viable research outcomes continuous observation of the patients is a better option. As well as, the previous health records related to the research issue will be analysed in proper manner. The analysis of previous health records will play an essential role in obtaining the research objectives. Different journals, articles and authentic websites will be used to analyse the objectives in more reliable manner. As well as, the cohort study design will be helpful in identifying the impact of smoking cigarette (factor) on lungs (outcome). In this concern, the combination of observation, analytical study and cohort study will be helpful in gaining reliable research objectives.

In this research study, non-probability sampling method will be used to collect relevant information during the research process. Non-probability sampling is selected for this research study as the individuals are not selected on random basis among the entire patients admitted in the hospitals but the patients admitted in month of June was within the range of 25 to 55 years. These patients are measured on basis of Body Mass Index (BMI) and data are collected from the associated health professionals in the concerning hospitals (Murray 2017). At the begging of the research study, the ages of the patients are to be between 25 to 55 years. By the end of this research study the age of these research participants will be 30 to 60 years.

The collected data will be analysed through comparison between the data of first year of and final year. Different health concerns of the patients will be analysed with the help of different healthcare publications on impact of cigarette on lungs. In addition, different health care professionals will be discussed about this issue to analyse the collected data in effective manner.

The studies related to healthcare leads to many ethical concerns, as these studies are mainly completed on human beings. Therefore, the healthcare research studies leads to different physical and mental harms. Participation of the individuals in a research study remains on their interest to involve in the research so that the researcher cannot force to the individuals to participate in the research study. In this concern, to avoid this issue from the research study only interested patients will be selected as research participants to collect information about the research issue. As well as, the emotions and physical status of the patients will be taken into consideration while collecting the information about the research issue. The personal information about the research participants should be kept confidential or not discussed about this information with another. It is analysed that each of the nation has their separate council conducted to the researches on health concerns. COAG Health Council is responsible for the health researches in Australia (COAG 2014). In this concern, the rules related to health research will be followed during the research process to eliminate the ethical concerns. In addition, authentic websites, journals and articles will be used to obtain analytical data from previous research.

The research study is conducting for long duration, which is a big limitation for the research study. Time of five years for a research study is not less time. Therefore, it is not easy to keep the follow up of the individuals in the research study. There may be changes in the physical status of the research participants as the research participants are patients of lung cancer. As well as, there may be loss of the patients as this disease is a serious health concern for human being. Therefore, it is a difficult task to track the patients of lung cancer for long time. There may be issue of higher cost due to long time. In addition, the research study is conducted to a specific health concern so that the outcomes of the research study cannot be used to analyze other health concerns.

The main outcomes of the research will be supporting evidences for the control of the issue of cigarette smoking among the various categories such as teen agers, male and female that will face its severe consequences if they continue to smoke. This will study will also be associated with the spreading awareness towards the causes of lung cancer among the whole population residing in the Australia, especially it will play an important role towards quitting smoking for the persons that are continuously smoking over a long period of time. It will also provide important insights into the available data that will provide the government with various details of smoking and lung cancer along with recommendations to introduce measures to minimise the incurrence of such issues in Australia (Crane 2016). It might be increase in the taxes on cigarette, more rehabilitation centres or spreading awareness through various modes. This will lead to control the increased issues of lung cancer and other health issues.

This study will be conducted under me and my supportive group members. The proposal will be submitted to the Department of Health, Australia and Ministry of Health, NSW. They will be providing assistance in terms of management and funding. Along with this, the government hospitals in NSW will also provide support under the instructions of Ministry of Health NSW. The involvement of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) will provide technical and ethical monitoring and review the project.

References

ABS “Australian smoking rates falling.” (2017). https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/E6DE72422D16BBB4CA258130001536C2?OpenDocument 

Australian Government “SMOKING CAUSES LUNG CANCER.” (2012). https://www.quitnow.gov.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/content/warnings-b-lung BetterhealthChannel “Smoking - effects on your body.” (2018). https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/smoking-effects-on-your-body 

Cancer Australia “Lung cancer statistics.” (2018). https://lung-cancer.canceraustralia.gov.au/statistics 

Cancer Council  “Lung Cancer.” (2018). https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/types-of-cancer/lung-cancer.html 

COAG. “The New COAG Council System.” (2014). https://www.coaghealthcouncil.gov.au/  

Crane, Melanie, Nicola Scott, Blythe J. O’Hara, Sanchia Aranda, Mayanne Lafontaine, Ingrid Stacey, Megan Varlow, and David Currow. "Knowledge of the signs and symptoms and risk factors of lung cancer in Australia: mixed methods study." BMC public health 16, no. 1 (2016): 508.

Martin, T. “Global Smoking Statistics.” (2018). https://www.verywellmind.com/global-smoking-statistics-for-2002-2824393 

Murray, Sonya R., Yvonne Kutzer, Emily Habgood, Peter Murchie, Fiona M. Walter, Danielle Mazza, Shaouli Shahid, and Jon D. Emery. "Reducing barriers to consulting a General Practitioner in patients at increased risk of lung cancer: a qualitative evaluation of the CHEST Australia intervention." Family practice 34, no. 6 (2017): 740-746.

Xie, Ashleigh, Beth Croce, and David H. Tian. "Smoking and lung cancer." Annals of cardiothoracic surgery 3, no. 2 (2014): 221.

Yu, Xue Qin, Qingwei Luo, Clare Kahn, Camilla Cahill, Marianne Weber, Paul Grogan, Ahmedin Jemal, and Dianne L. O’Connell. "Widening socioeconomic disparity in lung cancer incidence among men in New South Wales, Australia, 1987–2011." Chinese Journal of Cancer Research 29, no. 5 (2017): 395.