Cigarette Smoking and Lung Cancer in Australia (Essay Sample)

Cigarette Smoking and Lung Cancer in Australia
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Table of Contents
Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc420122782 \h 3Article Summary, Limitations and Level of Evidence PAGEREF _Toc420122783 \h 3List of Articles………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4Hierarchy of evidence PAGEREF _Toc420122784 \h 4Article 1: Hymowitz, N. (2012). Cigarette Smoking and Lung Cancer: Pediatric Roots PAGEREF _Toc420122785 \h 5Critique PAGEREF _Toc420122786 \h 6Article 2: Pesch B., Gustavsson, P., Kendzia, B., Jöckel, K. H., Johnsen, G., Pohlabeln, H., …& Brüning, T (2012) ‘Cigarette Smoking and Lung Cancer – Relative risk estimates for the major histological types from a pooled analysis of case-control studies’ PAGEREF _Toc420122787 \h 6Critique PAGEREF _Toc420122788 \h 8Article 3: Parsons A., Begh, R., Daley, A., &Aveyard, P. (2010). ‘Influence of smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer on prognosis: systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis’ PAGEREF _Toc420122789 \h 8Critique PAGEREF _Toc420122790 \h 9Article 4: Park, S., Park, E. H., Jee, S.H., Shin, H. R., Shin, A., Jung, K. W., & Boffetta, P. (2014) ‘The attributable fraction of tobacco smoking on cancer using population – based nationwide cancer incidence and mortality data in Korea’ PAGEREF _Toc420122791 \h 10Critique PAGEREF _Toc420122792 \h 11Relevance to Public Health Nursing Practice PAGEREF _Toc420122793 \h 11Conclusions PAGEREF _Toc420122794 \h 12References PAGEREF _Toc420122795 \h 13
Introduction
Lung cancer is a significant public health concern. Not only is it ranked fifth amongst the most commonly diagnosed invasive cancers in Australia, it also causes the highest number of cancer deaths (8,114) in both males and females (AIHW & Cancer Australia 2011). Lung cancer account for over 9% lung cancer cases and 19% of cancer deaths in Australia (National Lung cancer program, 2011). Alarmingly, 80% to 90% of lung cancer cases in developed nations are attributed to tobacco smoking (Jemal, Bray, Center, Ferlay, Ward, & Forman 2011). In fact, in Australia, tobacco smoking is the sole largest cause of lung cancer (AIHW & Cancer Australia 2011). Research indicates that tobacco smoking accounts for 90% and 65% of lung cancers in males and females, respectively (Brhane, Liu, & Hung, R. J. 2015). The poor survival outcome is, at least in part, attributable to the relatively high percentage of cases (approximately 80%) that are diagnosed in an advanced phase (National lung cancer program, 2011). Given the grim nature of the statistics presented above, the need for research in this area is clear. Thus the following paper examines the redefined question "What is the correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer in Australia?”
Article Summary, Limitations and Level of Evidence
The current review’s objective is to offer a summary, analysis and critique of four scholarly articles that are pertinent to the issue of cigarette smoking and lung cancer. The articles will be critiqued in terms of their contribution, limitation and applicability with respect to the practice area. To be considered highly valuable and applicable to the area of concern, each article must focus on cigarette smoking and lung cancer. The National Health and Medical Research Council (2010) offer guidance on how to place values on the evidence within an article. This will be used in determining the ranking, relevance and quality of each article.
List of articles
1 Hymowitz, N. (2012). Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: pediatric roots. 
2 Pesch, B.,Gustavsson, P., Kendzia, B., Jöckel, K. H., Johnsen, G., Pohlabeln, H., &Brüning, T. (2012). ‘Cigarette smoking and lung cancer-relative risk estimates for the major histological types from a pooled analysis of case-control studies.’ 
3 Parsons A., Begh, R., Daley, A., &Aveyard, P. (2010). ‘Influence of smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer on prognosis: systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis.’
4 Park, S.,Park, E. H., Jee, S. H., Shin, H. R., Shin, A., Jung, K. W.,…& Boffetta, P. (2014). The attributable fraction of tobacco smoking on cancer using population-based nationwide cancer incidence and mortality data in Korea.
Hierarchy of evidence
Article

Nature of research

Level of evidence

Cigarette smoking and lung cancer: pediatric roots.

Quantitative

IIb: Observation study

Cigarette smoking and lung cancer- relative risk estimates for major histological types from a pooled analysis of case-control studies.

Quantitative

III: a pooled analysis of case-control studies.

Influence of smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer on prognosis: a systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis.

Quantitative

Ia: a systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis.

Attributable fraction of tobacco smoking on cancer using population-based nationwide cancer incidence and mortality data in Korea.

Quantitative

Ia: systematic review and meta-analysis of a cross-sectional study.

Article 1
The scholarly article was written by Norman Hymowitz (2012), and is a level IIb: an observational study that is quantitative in nature. Hymowitz sought to establish that earlyonset of cigarette smokingincreases the occurrence of lung cancer in adulthood and may therefore be an autonomous risk factor. Consequently the researcher analyzed studies that had evidence linking the incidence of lung cancer to tobacco usage. The researcher also reviewed articles indicating that cigarette smoking at an early age augments risk of lung cancer rates. Furthermore, the researcher examined articles that had evidence associating declining usage of tobacco to reduced incidences of lung cancer.
As a result of the articles examined, Hymowitz concluded that there may be a crucial epoch when lung tissue is specifically vulnerable to carcinogenesis induced by cigarette smoking. The reviewed studies suggested that the early onset of smoking is an autonomous risk factor for lung cancer. However, Hymowitz noted that some cohort studies did not support the early onset of smoking asan autonomous risk factor for lung cancer.
The researcher identified molecular biology and epidemiology of lung cancer as areas requiring further research. Hymowitz concluded that it is imperative to prevent the onset of smoking at an early age by identifying susceptible youth and aiding those youths who are smoking to quit. The researcher encourages adoption of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (2005) recommendations for countries so as to reduce lung cancer death rates.
Critique
The critiqueof article 1 is based on a CASP cohort study checklist; that beingan alternative type of observational study.A cohort study checklist was used as the article is an observational study. The review is focused in terms of the outcome considered, and it also tries to detect a harmful effect in a clear manner. The use of cohort method is appropriate for addressing the study’s research question as the cohortis representative of the population under study. The researchers have also utilized objective and similar measurements for all subjects in the cohort to precisely measure a clearly defined exposure. The measures employed by the researchers have been validated. The follow-up of subjects in the cohort is long and has sufficiently revealed the effects of the disease. The study outcomes are applicable to the Australian population. The researchers did not, however, state the precision of the results as there are no confidence intervals for the review results.
Article 2
Article 2, written by Pesch et al. (2012), is a level III: pooled meta-analysis of case-control studies. The authors sought to address the effect of smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer on prognosis. Controls were matched to the cases and were drawn from either the hospitals or the general population. Data on smoking and lung cancer subtypes was obtained from a SYNERGY database that had eight case-control studies of European descent in eleven countries and a Canadian study. The collective dataset contained 13,169 cases and 16,010 controls that had been enrolled from fifteen study centers between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s. Information on smoking was gathered via interviews with the subjects. WHO guidelines were utilised in the classification of subtypes of lung cancer by pathologists linked to the participating hospitals. The ethics committee of the individual studies and IARC’s Institutional Review Board approved the study.
Risks associated with smoking were approximated by a combination of all lung cancers (N=13,163) and for every major cancer subtype. The main cancer subtypes estimated are an adenocarcinoma of the lung (N=3,397), s...