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** 24 September 2024
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** UK
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** Over 10 percent of deaths in Wales due to smoking with higher numbers in most deprived areas (#1)
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** Opinion: The right calls it the ‘nanny state’ – I call it standing up to rich corporations and protecting people’s health (#2)
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** Health and productivity losses from obesity ‘far outstrip weight-loss jab costs’ (#3)
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** UK
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** Over 10 percent of deaths in Wales due to smoking with higher numbers in most deprived areas

More than one in ten deaths of those aged over 35 in Wales is due to smoking.

New analysis from Public Health Wales has shown that more than 3,800 deaths in Wales in 2022 were because of smoking.

Latest figures have also shown than on average more than 17,000 hospital admissions each year were down to smoking.

The study, Smoking attributable mortality and hospital admissions for Wales 2020-22, seeks to also highlight the inequalities between the most and least deprived communities.

It found that the rate of deaths attributable to smoking was three times higher in the most deprived communities compared to the least.

Hospital admissions were also twice as high for residents of the most deprived communities compared to the least.

Chris Emmerson, Consultant in Public Health at Public Health Wales, said: “These statistics are a stark reminder of the devastating impact that smoking continues to have on the health of the Welsh population, particularly in our most deprived communities.

"Despite the real progress we have made reducing the numbers taking up smoking and support smokers to quit, it’s clear that we need to make every effort to tackle smoking if we are to address these huge health and financial costs for the people of Wales.”

Public Health Wales say they welcomed the announcement in the King’s Speech in July that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, first introduced by the previous UK Conservative Government, will return to parliament in the current term under Labour.

Provisions of the previous Bill included banning the sale of tobacco to everyone born after 1 January 2009.

“This new analysis highlights the benefits that ambitious policies to prevent young people from starting to smoke could deliver” Mr Emmerson added.

Source: ITV X, 23 September 2024

See also: Public Health Wales - Over 10 percent of deaths in Wales due to smoking ([link removed])
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** Opinion: The right calls it the ‘nanny state’ – I call it standing up to rich corporations and protecting people’s health

Writing for the Guardian, Professor Devi Sridhar, Chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, critiques the negative reaction to UK government initiatives like junk food ad restrictions, energy drink sales bans for children, and smoking phase-outs, often labelled as a “nanny state” approach. The term is used to oppose public health interventions perceived as overreach. However, the author argues that these policies are not about limiting freedom but ensuring collective well-being by regulating corporate behaviour. Public health policies, such as tobacco control or speed limits, protect both individuals and overburdened healthcare systems like the NHS. The "nanny state" framing overlooks the importance of prevention in addressing the root causes of public health issues, which is crucial to reducing healthcare costs and improving overall health outcomes.

The author explains that while individual freedom is important, it should not come at the cost of endangering others. For instance, Sridhar asks whether individuals should be free to smoke around children or promote unhealthy foods to minors, even if it risks their health? Such regulation balances individual freedom with the larger need for societal welfare. Governments play a key role in creating environments that allow people to lead healthier, longer lives, reducing the pressure on health services.

The article underscores that public health interventions are about protecting citizens from corporate interests, which often prioritise profit over well-being. The term “nanny state” was first widely used to criticise the 70mph motorway speed limit imposed by the government in 1965 to reduce the number of fatalities on the roads. The speed limit achieved its objective and became widely accepted. The author concludes that if such interventions mean living in a “nanny state,” it’s a trade-off worth accepting for the greater good.

Source: The Guardian, 23 September 2024
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** Health and productivity losses from obesity ‘far outstrip weight-loss jab costs’

Spiralling healthcare costs and productivity losses from the global obesity crisis far outstrip the cost of new weight-loss drugs, according to a report, which also calls on governments to prioritise prevention by promoting a healthy diet and exercise.

In the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, there is a clear economic case for these medications, the report says, as the annual cost of the diabetes drug Ozempic is lower than the cost of additional healthcare needed by people with obesity. The cost of the weight-loss injection Wegovy is higher, but still dwarfed by the overall economic cost to society of obesity, according to the research by ING Bank, shared with the Guardian.

Both drugs, made by the Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, have been hugely popular, along with the US company Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro. Given as weekly injections, they act like a gut hormone known as GLP-1 that makes people feel fuller, helping them to lose weight. Recent studies have also shown other health benefits.

Obesity rates have risen sharply in the past decades, and there are now more overweight than malnourished people worldwide. The new wave of GLP-1 drugs can help reverse this trend, although there are questions over how long-lasting their effects are. They also come with a hefty price tag, in particular for Wegovy.

Obesity is linked to health issues such as cardiovascular diseases, joint problems and diabetes, all of which are costly to treat.

The ING healthcare analyst Diederik Stadig has compared the healthcare costs of obesity and in the UK, which are estimated to be €1,700 (£1,400) per person every year, compared with €2,400 in Germany, €2,300 in the Netherlands and €2,500 in the US.

A year’s supply of Ozempic, which is also prescribed for weight loss, costs £830 in the UK, a bit less than in Germany and the Netherlands, and for less than in the US where it costs over £8,000. A year’s supply of Wegovy costs £2,760 a year in the UK compared to over £12,000 in the US. The US generally pays higher prices for drugs than other countries.

“If the drugs are effective long term, people lead healthier lives, there will be less productivity loss, less private cost, higher quality of life … if you can nip obesity in the bud for a significant amount of people, you could save people so much discomfort, but you could also save society money,” he said.

People living with obesity are up to twice as likely to take time off work, according to recent research from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna across 26 European countries.

“Obesity can lead to more than 80 illnesses, from depression to heart attacks,” said Thomas Czypionka, the head of the health economics and health policy research group at the institute. “Obese people take more sick days. Across Europe there are labour shortages; it is a huge problem for economies.”

He predicts prices of obesity drugs will fall in coming years, when more medications come on to the market, but for now governments will have to prioritise those most at risk.

Stadig cautioned that the long-term effects of the drugs were uncertain. One study found that once individuals stopped taking semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, they regained two-thirds of their weight within a year. The drugs come with side-effects such as nausea and stomach pain and many people quit them after a while.

While doctors tend to only prescribe weight-loss drugs alongside a diet and exercise plan, governments need to do more to combat obesity, Stadig says. He suggested using VAT as a tool to promote healthy eating, charging no or little VAT on vegetables and placing a higher tax on fast food.

Source: The Guardian, 22 September 2024

See also: ING Think - Spiralling obesity costs could be solved by Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs ([link removed]) | Frontier Economics – The rising cost of obesity in the UK ([link removed])
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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