443,000 deaths occur due to smoking related causes each year according to the Center for Disease Control. The Surgeon General states that cigarette smoking is "the single greatest avoidable cause of disease and death." Smoking causes lung disease. People who smoke and develop lung disease eventually become debilitated. More people die of lung cancer, "than breast, colon or prostate cancer combined" according to the National Institute of Health.
COPD
Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are classified as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Eighty-two percent of COPD deaths occur because of smoking according to the American Lung Association. Smoking breaks down the tiny air sacs of the lungs called alveoli. As the sac walls are destroyed the compartments become large and air exchange in the lungs is compromised.
Lung Cancer
According to the National Cancer Institute "the single most important risk factor for the development of lung cancer is smoking." Smoking damages the lining of the lungs because cigarettes contain carcinogens or chemicals that cause cancer. These carcinogens slowly destroy the cells of the lungs until the cells of the lungs begin to grow abnormally and develop into cancer. Lung cancer causes shortness of breath, coughing up of blood, spreading of the cancer to other sites in the body and eventually death. The five year potential survival of a patient with lung cancer is only 15.7 percent according to the National Cancer Institute.
Pneumonia
Smokers have a higher risk of pneumonia and other lung infections because smoking affects the immune system. Research published in the April 17, 2008 Science Daily found that nicotine affects the white blood cells that the body uses for fighting infection. Neutrophils, one component of white blood cells becomes less effective when exposed to nicotine. Neutrophils are the white blood cells that attack bacteria that cause infection. The researchers concluded that this neutrophil dysfunction partially explained a smoker's increased risk of infection.
References
- Center for Disease Control. Heatlh Effects of Cigarette Smoking Factsheet
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General, 6 Major Conclusions of the Surgeon General Report
- Medline Plus Encyclopedia: Lung cancer
- American Lung Association. Lung Disease
- National Cancer Institute. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment
