Relationship Between Smoking and Lung Cancer, Research Paper Example

Abstract

In the United States of America and in the world in general, the problem of lung cancer is evident. There has been growing number of people who are becoming smokers in the world than before. Again, the number of lung cancers seems to be increasing at the same rate therefore causing the speculation that lung cancer has a direct relationship with smoking. This experiment was meant to understand the causation relationship between smoking and lung cancer for the purpose of reducing both morbidities and mortalities secondary to lung cancer. It was also meant to either proof that there is a direct link between smoking and suffering from lung cancer. The research was carried in a retrospective method in which I used people who were suffering from lung cancer and they state if they were smoking or not before.

Introduction

Problem statement

The problem is that there is an increasing number of patients suffering from lung cancer reported in the health facilities. Most of these patients give a history of smoking or having a close family relative who is a smoker.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to establish if there is any association between smoking and lung cancer hence helping in the prevention of the cancer. This in turn will reduce the number of incidence of lung cancer.

Relevance

My project will be very useful in the preventive health and will help in the understanding better of lung cancer as well as helping the senate in the formulation of policies and laws especially concerning tobacco use.

Literature review

Lung cancer is a disease in which there is an uncontrolled cell growth of the tissue which make up the lung. These tissues have cells which are dividing permanently bur the cells are immortal. So they are increasing in number without them dying. This growth may lead to invasion of adjacent structures in a process called metastasis. Lung cancers can be divided in to two groups namely primary and secondary. Primary lung cancers are those which their tissue of origin is in the lungs. Secondary lung cancers are those which have a distant tissue of origin but invade the lung tissue. The main types of lung cancers are: non small cell lung carcinoma and small cell lung carcinoma. Lung cancers are part of the world problem and their incidence has been rising over time

The main causes of lung cancer include the following: carcinogens for example tobacco smoke, viral infections and ionizing radiation. These factors cause disruption in the DNA structure of the tissues of the lungs. As this damaged DNA continues to accumulate, cancer of the lungs developed. Tobacco is the main contributor to the most cancers in the world. In a study done in the year 2007 in New York (Jean & James, 2007) it indicated that out of every hundred cancer deaths in the United States, ninety of all of them were secondary to smoking. Jean and James established that all the ninety victims were chronic smokers of tobacco while about six of them had close relatives who smoke.

About three of the total experimented population had a close family relative who died a lung cancer. In another study done in the city of London, Marry established that eighty percent of her experimental population who were suffering from lung cancer ware smokers (2008) all the rest had a close family relative who smokes or were working living near a smoker. These two studies show that there is a very an overwhelming relationship in the smoking of tobacco and the causation of the lung cancer.

Study design

This is a retrospective study. Questionnaires were administered to one thousand respondents. The respondents were all suffering from lung cancer. To get the specific respondents, a random sampling technique was used in which out of the two thousands and twenty people suffering from cancer of the lungs, a thousand papers were written yes and other one thousand and twenty papers written no. they were then distributed evenly among the patients. Those who had a paper written yes were considered as the sample size and were given questionnaires to fill as the respondents. All the one thousand questionnaires were collected and all of them were properly filled. The questionnaires were then analyzed and the data entered into excel work book and the results presented in Microsoft office word.

Justification for this method

This method was deemed the most appropriate since it would give accurate information from the respondent. Questionnaires are filled by a responded and he or she doesn’t write his name. So it was considered that the patients will give much information about their smoking habits without the fear that someone will know about it. Again, because of the large population, other methods would have been very expensive. It was a retrospective in that the study would analyze the past behavioral characteristics of the individual.

Sequence of events

The first thing was the identification of the study population. The inclusion criterion was that all of them were supposed to be suffering from lung cancer. Here two thousand people were identified. To get the sample population, a simple random sampling technique was used. This was achieved by giving the patients papers written yes and others written no. the yes papers were one thousand and those who had the papers are the ones used as the sample population. The collection of the data was done by administration of questionnaires and their filling by the respondents. The questionnaires were then collected and analyzed.

Tools used

The only tool that was used to collect data was the questionnaire because it was the most convenient and cheapest to do the research since it involved a large population. The patients’ files were analyzed to confirm that they were suffering from lung cancer.

Variables

In the study, there were variables which were considered. They were: depend, the independent and the controlled variable. The control value was constant and this was the characteristic of the study sample suffering from lung cancer. The dependent variables were the whether the patient was a smoker or not.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis to this study was that there is relationship between smoking and lung cancer. This was because there seemed to be an association between lung cancer and smoking. Most people who were suffering from lung cancer were almost all of them having either a past or a current history of smoking. This made me have the perception that smoking might have an impact on the causation of lung cancer. Also, some previous studies as shown above that there is a relationship between the two.

Data collection

The data was collected by use of questionnaires. A sample of the questionnaires was as indicated in the appendix. The respondents were supposed to indicate their age in years, their place f residence and what disease they were suffering from. They were also supposed to indicate if they smoke or not.

Results

The results were collected and entered in to table as follows.

Table: number of people who smoke and they are suffering lung cancer

From the above table, the total number of patients who were not smokers was seventy. Those who had lung cancer and were smokers were about nine hundred and thirty. Also studied was the number of those where not smokers and gave the following results as indicated below.

Non-smokers with lung cancer

Forty five respondents who were not smokers interviewed said that they were living or working closely to a person who is a smoker. Only twenty five were not close to a person who smokes tobacco.

The results above show that there is a close relationship between lung cancer and smoking. Ninety three percent of the total respondents indicated that they smoke. Of the seven percent remaining who do not smoke, four and half percent of the total respondents had a close relative or lived closely to a person who smokes. Only two and half of the total were not smokers and had no relative or a person living near them who smoke. None of the respondents failed to did not respond.

Discussion

In establishing the relationship between the lung cancer and smoking, the research came up with the above results. From the data collected, many of the people who had lung cancer were smokers, with a percent of ninety three. Again, those who were not smokers, sixty four percent of them were living or working close to people who smoke. Only two and half percent of the total responds had no history of smoking or living near a smoker. This shows that there is a certain relationship between the causation of lung cancer and smoking. The high number of the people who smoke started smoking before they got the lung cancer disease. From the findings, it appears that smoking is a factor causing lung cancer.

That means that if we can reduce the number of people who smoke, then we will reduce the number of new of lung cancers in the country and in the whole world. In return the reduction in the number of lung cancers means that there is also a reduction in the expense and the amount of money used in treatment of these patients. It is also evident that the living near a person who smokes is a risk factor for lung cancer.

The hypothesis, which stated that there is a relationship between smoking and lung cancer, was right.

It is not by coincidence that ninety three of the patients suffering from lung cancer are smokers. As Edwards puts it, smoking tobacco leads to production of carcinogens which break the DNA in the nucleus of a cell (1999). This breakage leads to accumulation of defective DNA in the nucleus. The defective nucleus constantly multiplies but the cell does not undergo a process called apoptosis. Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death and it ensures that defective cells die before they become cancerous (Joy & Ben 2006). These findings points towards a problem in the current society. There is an increase in the number of people getting into smoking. Therefore, if the current tread does not change there is likely hood that in the future we may get more lung cancers and related diseases.

Conclusion

This study has proved that smoking is a direct causative Agent of lung cancer. The research has shown that being a tobacco smoker is a risk factor in the lung cancer. I would like to recommend that the senate to enact laws which will reduce the number of people getting into smoking. This will reduce a lot of expense on the side of the government which it uses in treatment of patients of lung cancer.

References

Edwards, P. M. (1999). Pathogenesis of Cancer. London: Free Press.

Jean, W. J. & Jane, B. J. (2007). Research advances in Cancer. Journal Of Association of Medics, 675 (8), 76-89.

Joy, C.,& Ben, D. (2006). Textbook of medicine. New York: education puplishers Marry, F. (2006). Smoking and cancer. A Journal on Cancer, 77(2) 67-89.