SMOKING

 

Smoking is the most important and preventable cause of morbidity and premature mortality in the developed and developing world. However, despite extensive efforts to curb smoking worldwide, the cigarette industry is still flourishing in many regions of the globe. Worldwide, between tens of thousands of kids start smoking every day. Approximately one quarter of children alive in the Asian Pacific Region will die from smoking. 

Consequences of Tobacco Use.

Fifty percent of smokers die of a smoking-related disease, and the life expectancy of one in four smokers is reduced by as much as 15-20 years. Before the advent of widespread tobacco use in World War II, lung cancer was rare. So rare, in fact, that doctors were required to report cases of lung cancer to the federal government to help identify the local environmental cause of the condition among an affected population, much like reporting cases of mesothelioma today. Now, it is estimated that over 85 percent of all lung cancer is tobacco-related. While most people recognize that smoking is highly destructive for their lungs, many have yet to come to terms with how smoking affects the rest of the body. Damage to one’s skin, mouth, hands, feet, respiratory system, heart, bones and reproductive system becomes readily evident in long-time smokers. Areas of the body damaged by smoking include:

• Skin: Poor blood circulation due to chronic vascular insults leads to impaired oxygen delivery to the skin, causing lasting damage to collagen and epithelial tissue. This phenomenon also contributes to poor wound healing, making elective surgeries risky and emergency surgeries dangerous.

• Mouth: Smoking can contribute to bad breath, mouth and jaw cancer, recurrent pharyngitis, and a reduced sense of taste and smell, as well as stained, yellowed teeth and plaque. Smoking reduces the flow of saliva, which, because saliva cleanses the lining of the mouth and teeth and protects the teeth from decay and gum infection.

• Hands and feet: Poor circulation leaves hands and feet chronically poorly perfused and cold. Walking can become painful due to peripheral vascular disease induced by smoking which can even lead to eventual amputation. The blood vessels in the fingers that hold cigarettes can also become so severely impaired that gangrene can set in and lead to amputation, forcing stubborn smokers to switch to the other hand.

• Respiratory system: Smoking can lead to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, continuous shortness of breath due to emphysematous injury in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and persistent cough often with pneumonia.

• Heart: No organ except for the lungs is more affected by smoking than the heart and its circulation. Cigarette smoking by itself increases the risk of coronary heart disease; a smoker’s heart is 2 to 4 times more likely to have coronary artery disease than that of a non-smoker. When smoking acts with other factors such as diabetes, it greatly increases this risk. Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the blood’s tendency to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery and raises the rate of abdominal aortic aneurysms fivefold.

• Bones: Osteoporosis, spine and hip fractures, and degenerative disc disease can all be directly linked to smoking.

• Reproductive System: Infertility is often a complication with chronic smokers, both male and female. While smoking lowers the sperm counts and decreases sperm motility in men, women have impaired ovulation and egg function. Maternal smoking is associated with several complications of pregnancy including abruption placentae, placenta previa, bleeding during pregnancy, premature and prolonged rupture of the membranes, and pre-term delivery. Smoking during pregnancy also retards fetal growth and causes an average reduction in birth weight. High levels of nicotine have even been found in cervical mucus contributing to cervical cancer.
• Malignancy: In addition to the malignancies mentioned above, smoking also increases the risk of cancers of the throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, and colon and acute myeloid leukemia.

Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation.

The potential health benefits of smoking cessation are substantial. Stopping smoking reduces the future risk of tobacco-related diseases, slows the progression of existing tobacco-related disease and improves life expectancy by an average of 10 years. Quitting can bring immediate health benefits at any age, regardless of how long one has smoked. It is never too late to quit. Within the first 24 hours of quitting, a person’s blood pressure, heart rate, and peripheral circulation begin to improve. The carbon monoxide content of the airways within the lung can decrease to normal levels by the end of the first day.

By 48 hours, all nicotine has left the body and the former smoker’s taste and smell are on their way to recovering. After 1 to 3 months, an ex-smoker’s lung function may have already improved by as much as 30 percent, and about 6 months later, shortness of breath has significantly improved and that chronic “smoker’s cough” is becoming less of a daily occurrence.

One year after cessation, the risk of a heart attack drops to half that of the risk of smokers. All else being equal, no other single intervention or modern “miracle drug” can make this claim. The risk of lung cancer falls by 50-60 percent after a decade of abstinence. After 15 years of abstinence, the risk of heart attack and stroke falls to that of people who never smoked.

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