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Smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis 2-fold
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
An estimated 40 million smokers could die from tuberculosis by 2050. The British Medical Journal predicts that people who are addicted to nicotine are twice as likely to develop tuberculosis as those who do not smoke.
Today, most cases of tuberculosis are recorded in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Charities have said global efforts to tackle tuberculosis are being hampered by "aggressive advances" from the tobacco industry.
Responsible for the fight against tuberculosis, pulmonologist Dr. John Moore-Gillon stated that despite the fact that twenty years ago WHO declared tuberculosis one of the most important problems of humanity, the number of people with tuberculosis has only increased, and smoking doubles the risk of contracting this disease.
WHO data for 2010 show that one third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis. Each year, 9 million people become infected with tuberculosis. Many people are completely cured of tuberculosis, but 1.7 million die from the disease each year.
According to official statistics, during 2010, about 30 people out of 100 thousand of the population of Ukraine fell ill.
Every hour, 4 new cases of tuberculosis are registered in Ukraine, and every hour one person dies from this disease. Every year, up to 40 thousand people with tuberculosis are registered in Ukraine, and 10 thousand die. Today, about 500 thousand people are registered for tuberculosis, of which 90 thousand have the open form.
The highest rates of tuberculosis are recorded in the south of Ukraine – Kherson, Nikolaev, Zaporizhia and Odessa regions.
Let us recall recent studies on the harm of smoking conducted by scientists:
- Smoking impairs memory
- Smoking increases the risk of developing bladder cancer fourfold
- Smoking on an empty stomach triples the risk of developing cancer
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