Cigarette smoking focus: A modeling approach for estimating the impact of health programs

Theodore R. Holford from Yale University charts a modeling approach for estimating the impact of health programs in this cigarette smoking research focus. Cigarette smoking is one of the most harmful causes of increasing illness risk and shortening life. Its effect was not expected initially, but the recognition of a growing epidemic in lung cancer became apparent in the middle of the twentieth century, stimulating a research effort to find the cause of an alarming trend. This work demonstrated the strong association between smoking and lung cancer. Still, as work continued, it became clear that lung cancer was but the first of a long list of other diseases affecting the lungs, the heart, and other organs.