Kidney Health Australia Backs Tax On
Cigarettes
Smokers risk to kidney disease
increases threefold
.......
Kidney Health
Australia today said it would back any move to increase
the tax on cigarettes to taking them to more than $20.00
a packet to cut their use in the community especially in
children in the
future.
Several reports have
linked cigarette smoking to kidney disease and in men an
Australian study has shown the risk to increase
threefold in those who smoke. Other studies have
shown that progression of kidney disease to dialysis
dependency is markedly hastened in those who continue to
smoke.
Dr Tim Mathew Medical
Director of Kidney Health Australia said "Smoking causes
a narrowing of the arteries, including the small vessels
in the filtering section of the kidney.
This reduces
the kidney's ability to work properly.
"Smoking has also been linked to cancer of
the bladder and the ureter - the small tubes that run
from your kidneys to your
bladder."
The message from
Kidney Health Australia is clear: don't smoke. If
you do smoke, giving up is one of the best things you
can do to keep your kidneys
healthy.
Dr. Mathew said chronic
kidney disease in Australia is a major public health
threat which needed a significant public health response
to cope with the combination of the size of the problem
and cutting smoking rates in the community is an
important part of the
strategy.
1 in 7 Australian adults over the age of 25
years has chronic kidney disease (stage
1-5).
·
At the end of 2007, 9,642 people were receiving dialysis
treatment and 7,128 people were living with a
functioning kidney transplant.
Dialysis for CKD is
the most frequent reason for
hospitalisation.
·
In 2006-07, regular dialysis for CKD was recorded as the
principal diagnosis in 933,772 hospitalisations-12.3% of
all hospitalisation in that year.
Risk factors for
CKD are common in
Australia.
·
People with CKD in the AusDiab survey had an increased
prevalence of diabetes (14 c/w 7%), high blood pressure
(39 c/w 28%), cardiovascular disease (10 c/w 6%),
smoking (18 c/w 16%) and obesity (26 c/w 20%) compared
to people without CKD
Media
Enquiries:
Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director, Kidney
Health Australia Mobile: 0416 149
863
Ron Smith, National
Communications Manager, Kidney Health
Australia
Mobile: 0417 329 201
Media
Release 6
July 2009