Impacts of Cigarette Smoking

Your Health is Your Wealth.
•Cigarette smoking increases risk for death from all causes in men and women.
The risk of dying from cigarette smoking has increased in men and women.

•Smoking is estimated to increase the risk For coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times, For stroke by 2 to 4 times, men developing lung cancer by 25 time, women developing lung cancer by 25.7 times. Smoking causes diminished overall health, increased absenteeism from work, and increased health care utilization and cost.

•Smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease). Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease, which are among the leading causes of death.
Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.

•Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form.
A stroke occurs when a clot blocks the blood flow to part of your brain or when a blood vessel in or around your brain bursts.
Blockages caused by smoking can also reduce blood flow to your legs and skin.

•Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.

•Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.
If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.
Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.

•Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body:
Bladder
Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
Cervix
Colon and rectum (colorectal)
Esophagus
Kidney and ureter
Larynx
Liver
Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)
Pancreas
Stomach
Trachea, bronchus, and lung

•Smoking also increases the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and survivors.

•Smoking and Other Health Risks
Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and affects a person’s overall health.
Smoking can make it harder for a woman to become pregnant and can affect her baby's health before and after birth. Smoking increases risks for:
Preterm (early) delivery
Stillbirth (death of the baby before birth)
Low birth weight
Sudden infant death syndrome (known as SIDS or crib death)
Ectopic pregnancy
Orofacial clefts in infants
Smoking can also affect men's sperm, which can reduce fertility and also increase risks for birth defects and miscarriage.
Smoking can affect bone health.
Women past childbearing years who smoke have weaker bones than women who never smoked, and are at greater risk for broken bones.
Smoking affects the health of your teeth and gums and can cause tooth loss.
Smoking can increase your risk for cataracts (clouding of the eye’s lens that makes it hard for you to see) and age-related macular degeneration (damage to a small spot near the center of the retina, the part of the eye needed for central vision).
Smoking is a cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus and can make it harder to control. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for active smokers than nonsmokers.
Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function.
Smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis.

•Benefit of Quitting Smoking
a) Quitting smoking cuts cardiovascular risks. Just 1 year after quitting smoking, your risk for a heart attack drops sharply.
b) Within 2 to 5 years after quitting smoking, your risk for stroke could fall to about the same as a nonsmoker’s.
c) If you quit smoking, your risks for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder drop by half within 5 years.
d) Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk for lung cancer drops by half.