Cigarette smoking is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States. Each year, more than 440,000 people die of diseases that are related to tobacco use. To put this number in perspective, according to the American Cancer Society, more people die from smoking than from illegal drugs, alcohol, car accidents, AIDS, homicide and suicide--combined. Besides these frightening statistics, there are many reasons why smoking is hazardous to one's health.
Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer death in the United States. Approximately 90 percent of all deaths due to lung cancer are directly related to smoking, meaning lung cancer is a disease that in many instances can be prevented, simply by not smoking. Even in smokers, the risk of lung cancer can be decreased by quitting smoking. In a study published in 2000 in the "British Medical Journal," the authors found that when comparing former smokers to continuing smokers, the risk of developing lung cancer decreased significantly, especially if smoking cessation occurred before the person reached middle age.
Heart Disease
Smoking increases the risk of many heart-related problems. According to a 1996 study out of the Institute of Community Medicine in Norway, the risk of a heart attack is greatly increased in men and women who smoke, compared to those who don't smoke. Besides the increased risk for heart attack, smoking also causes atherosclerosis (the build-up of fatty deposits on the inside of arteries) to develop more rapidly. In a large study of over 10,000 people that was published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," smokers were found to have a 50 percent increase in the rate of atherosclerosis development.
Stroke
The link between smoking and stroke (in which the blood flow to the brain is temporarily interrupted due to a clot in the blood vessels) is another negative aspect of smoking. Similarly to other diseases associated with smoking, quitting decreases the risk over time, and after a few years of not smoking, the former smoker's risk for stroke will be similar to that of nonsmokers.
Worsening of Asthma
Because of the damage to the lungs that cigarette smoking causes, it is perhaps no surprise that smoking may worsen symptoms of asthma. So for a person with this potentially life-threatening disease, the addition of a smoking habit can make life much more difficult.
Diabetes
Several large studies have demonstrated an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in people who smoke, when compared with nonsmokers. A large study published by Dr. Manson and colleagues, of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, estimated that about 10 percent of new cases of Type 2 diabetes could be attributed directly to smoking. So for a patient with a history of Type 2 diabetes in the family (which is itself a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes), smoking is especially risky, because the potential for developing this serious chronic disease is greater than for a nonsmoker.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a loss of bone density and bone mass; this disease makes the bone more brittle than normal and puts people at risk for bone fractures. It is more common in postmenopausal women, though premenopausal women may develop the condition. It is less common in men but does occur. Smoking accelerates the bone loss process, and according to Dr. Law, smoking increases the risk of hip fracture in women.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is, as the term suggests, a chronic disease of the lungs in which the airways become obstructed, making normal breathing more difficult. As Dr. Scott Weiss, of Harvard Medical School, writes in the medical database UpToDate, many studies have shown that the most important risk factor for developing COPD is smoking. A study published in the journal "Thorax" in 2006, in fact, found that out of over 8,000 people, 36 percent of smokers developed COPD compared to only 8 percent of nonsmokers.
Reproductive Problems
Cigarette smoking has been found to be associated with a variety of reproductive system problems. Infertility, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancy (a potentially life-threatening condition in which the embryo implants outside of the uterus) are all more common occurrences in women who smoke compared with women who are nonsmokers.
Peptic Ulcer Disease
Peptic ulcers are holes in the walls of the stomach or intestine that may go through the wall of the affected organ (e.g. the stomach). Untreated ulcers may bleed, or perforate, which could become an emergency. Smoking is known to be a risk factor for developing peptic ulcer disease and may also slow down the healing of already-existing ulcers. Smoking cessation, in turn, decreases the risk of this potentially uncomfortable disease, and also speeds up healing of peptic ulcers.
Increased Risk of Other Cancers
Besides being associated with about 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths, smoking increases the risk for a number of other types of cancer. Bladder cancer, gastric (stomach) cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, cancer of the oral cavity (mouth, tongue, or lips), and throat cancer--smoking increases the risk for all of these cancers. In addition, cervical cancer and a certain type of leukemia are associated with smoking. Overall, according to the American Cancer Society, smoking is responsible for nearly one-third (30 percent) of all cancer deaths--a significant reason that smoking is bad for a person's health.
References
- American Cancer Society: Cigarette Smoking
- "British Medical Journal"; Smoking, smoking cessation, and lung cancer in the UK since 1950: combination of national statistics with two case-control studies; Richard Peto et. al.; August 2000
- "Circulation"; Smoking, serum lipids, blood pressure, and sex differences in myocardial infarction. A 12-year follow-up of the Finnmark Study; I. Njolstad et. al.; February 1996
- "British Medical Journal"; A meta-analysis of cigarette smoking, bone mineral density and risk of hip fracture: recognition of a major effect; M.R. Law and A.K. Hackshaw; October 1997
- "Thorax"; Developing COPD: a 25 year follow up study of the general population; A. Lokke et. al.; November 2006
