Lifestyle
Great American Smoke-out
By Tiffany Green
STAFF WRITER
According to the American Heart Association, as estimated 25.9 million men and 20.7 million women are smokers. Smokers are at a higher risk of heart attack and stroke. Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the United States. According to the American Heart Association, about 440,000 people die annually from smoking related deaths.
“All the major killers are associated with smoking,” said Scott Warner, Pulmonologist of Chest Medicine of Cullman.
Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing several chronic disorders. Some of the diseases smokers are at risk for include: fatty build-ups in the arteries, several types of cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“There are a lot of good reason’s to quit smoking,” Warner said. “Quitting can prevent deaths associated with lung cancer, emphysema, heart attacks and stokes.”
Build-up of fatty substances in the arteries or atherosclerosis is a chief contributor to the high number of deaths from smoking. Many studies also detail evidence that cigarette smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.
Cigarette and tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes are the six major independent risk factors that can be controlled.
Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the Surgeon General has called it “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.”
“Some of the reasons for quitting are living longer and being healthier and happier,” Warner said. “Thirty-eight percent of all preventable deaths are smoking related.”
Cigarette smoking alone increases the risk of coronary heart diseases by itself, but it is helped by other factors it greatly increases risks. Smoking increase blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.
“Forty-year-olds that quit smoking gain about nine years and 50 year old that quit smoking gain about six years to their lives,” Warner said.
Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for stroke. Inhaling cigarette smoke produces several effects that damage the cerebrovascular system.
There is a link between secondhand smoke and disease. National Health Interview Survey said about 22,000 to 69,000 premature deaths from heart and blood vessels disease are caused by other people’s smoke each year.
“Smokers will have more energy if they quit and save money,” Warner said. “In today’s economy, it can burn up your money.”
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