PURPOSE: Smoking is causally associated with certain prevalent visually impairing eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration and cataract. Studies have found that people are afraid of "going blind" and may be motivated to quit smoking if they know that vision loss is associated with smoking behavior. METHODS: A random-digit dialed telephone survey was used to measure health knowledge of adult smokers in Canada (n = 2,765), the United States (n = 3,178), the United Kingdom (n = 2,767), and Australia (n = 2,623) as part of the International Tobacco Control Four-Country Project. RESULTS: A low proportion of smokers from Canada (13.0%), the United States (9.5%), and the United Kingdom (9.7%) believed that smoking can cause blindness. In contrast, 47.2% of Australian smokers believed that smoking causes blindness. Australia was the only country during the sampling period to have national awareness campaigns about smoking and its effects on eye health. CONCLUSION: These findings point to the need across countries to educate the public on this important consequence of smoking. There is an opportunity for the public health and eye health communities to work to educate the public about the impacts smoking has on eye health to improve quit rates and help discourage people from starting to smoke.
PURPOSE: Smoking is causally associated with certain prevalent visually impairing eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration and cataract. Studies have found that people are afraid of "going blind" and may be motivated to quit smoking if they know that vision loss is associated with smoking behavior. METHODS: A random-digit dialed telephone survey was used to measure health knowledge of adult smokers in Canada (n = 2,765), the United States (n = 3,178), the United Kingdom (n = 2,767), and Australia (n = 2,623) as part of the International Tobacco Control Four-Country Project. RESULTS: A low proportion of smokers from Canada (13.0%), the United States (9.5%), and the United Kingdom (9.7%) believed that smoking can cause blindness. In contrast, 47.2% of Australian smokers believed that smoking causes blindness. Australia was the only country during the sampling period to have national awareness campaigns about smoking and its effects on eye health. CONCLUSION: These findings point to the need across countries to educate the public on this important consequence of smoking. There is an opportunity for the public health and eye health communities to work to educate the public about the impacts smoking has on eye health to improve quit rates and help discourage people from starting to smoke.
Authors: W G Christen; R J Glynn; U A Ajani; D A Schaumberg; J E Buring; C H Hennekens; J E Manson Journal: JAMA Date: 2000-08-09 Impact factor: 56.272
Authors: Mari Carmen García-Domene; María Josefa Luque-Cobija; Dolores de Fez; María Amparo Díez-Ajenjo Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-06-07 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: Ryan David Kennedy; Marlee M Spafford; Ilan Behm; David Hammond; Geoffrey T Fong; Ron Borland Journal: Clin Exp Optom Date: 2012-08-13 Impact factor: 2.742
Authors: Abigail T Evans; Ellen Peters; Andrew A Strasser; Lydia F Emery; Kaitlin M Sheerin; Daniel Romer Journal: PLoS One Date: 2015-12-16 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Ryan David Kennedy; David Hammond; Marlee M Spafford; Ornell Douglas; Julie Brûlé; Geoffrey T Fong; Annette S H Schultz Journal: Tob Induc Dis Date: 2016-08-19 Impact factor: 2.600
Authors: Jessica L Reid; Seema Mutti-Packer; Prakash C Gupta; Qiang Li; Jiang Yuan; Nigar Nargis; A K M Ghulam Hussain; David Hammond Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2017-08-02 Impact factor: 3.390