Smoking and Health Statistics

Tuesday, March 21st

Smoking and Health Statistics

If you're a smoker you've probably already heard that smoking can be detrimental to your health. With both coughing and trouble breathing, after even light physical activity, most smokers are reminded daily. Many serious ailments are related to smoking - here are some important statistics:

There are numerous diseases and illnesses that smoking cigarettes increases the chances of acquiring:

Increased Health Risks Include:

• 2 to 4 times more likely to have a stroke
• 13 times more likely for women and 23 times for men to develop lung cancer
• 2 to 4 times more likely to have coronary heart disease
• 12 to 13 times more likely to die of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or emphysema and chronic bronchitis
• 3+ more times likely to develop non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disorders:

• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Smoking can cause coronary heart disease which is the leading cause of death in the United States
• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Smoking cigarettes reduces blood circulation which in turn narrows arteries and increases the risk of peripheral vascular disease

Increased Risk for Cancer
The leading cause of cancer and death from cancer in the United States is smoking. Inhaling chemicals causes mutations within the body and those mutations how cancer can start.

Cancers caused by smoking (not comprehensive)

• Lung cancer
• Acute myeloid leukemia
• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Cancer of the larynx
• Mouth cancer
• Cancer of the pharynx
• Stomach cancer
• Cervical cancer

Increased Risk for Birth Defects
There are many adverse effects regarding reproduction, pregnancy and early childhood development that are linked to smoking cigarettes. They include effects due to smoking before and/or during pregnancy.

Increased risk of adverse reproductive and early childhood effects include:

• Stillbirth
• Low birth weight
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Infertility
• Preterm delivery
• Impotence
• Cleft lip or palate

Endangered Families and Friends
Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke from the end of a cigarette (side stream smoke) and the smoke exhaled by the smoker (mainstream smoke). Because side stream smoke does not go through the filter it is riskier than directly inhaled smoke from a cigarette or mainstream smoke. It has a higher concentration of carcinogens. Because of that it is especially bad for young children and people who are already ill.

Some of the health risks associated with this type of smoke include:

• Increased risk of lung cancer
• Linked to childhood leukemia and other cancers
• Accounts for nearly 50,000 deaths for non-smokers per year (in the U.S.)

With such a long list of risks and dangers associated with smoking it's not surprising that to learn that the combined number of deaths caused by AIDS, traffic accidents, breast cancer and drug addiction, for people under 70, is less than the number of people who die of smoking related deaths each year.