Smoking: health effects and public health implications

¶ … Health Effects of Smoking

It is common knowledge that smoking cigarettes decreases both life expectancy and quality of life. However, many people equate the dangers of cigarette smoking solely with a greatly increased risk of developing lung cancer. While smoking is a major risk factor for lung cancer, lung cancer is far from the only disease associated with smoking. Cigarette smokers are at risk for developing other lung diseases besides lung cancer. Smokers are also at a greatly increased risk of developing other cancers, many that people would not naturally associate with smoking. Finally, cigarette smokers have a greatly increased risk of heart attack. Fortunately, quitting smoking has almost immediate health benefits and can reduce the likelihood that a former smoker will develop smoking-related diseases.

In addition to causing 87% of lung cancers, cigarette smoking is responsible for a variety of other lung diseases. Between 80 to 90% of cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is the fourth leading cause of death in America, are caused by smoking. Furthermore, it is estimated that by 2020, COPD will be the third leading cause of death in America. COPD encompasses a variety of other diseases, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis. COPD not only causes fatalities, but also reduces quality of life, because the symptoms of COPD include shortness of breath, chronic coughing, and increased mucus production. In fact, the last stages of COPD have been described as the worst medical ailment that a person can experience because of a patient's constant struggle for air, or a feeling of drowning. Finally, smoking contributes to the severity of both asthma and pneumonia. However, quitting smoking can greatly increase lung health. Within three months of quitting smoking, an ex-smoker can expect an increase in circulation and lung function. Within nine months of quitting smoking, an ex-smoker's cilia regain normal function.

The lungs are not the only body part that is vulnerable to the effects of cigarette smoking. Cigarettes contain a number of carcinogens, and those carcinogens travel throughout the body after being introduced into the bloodstream by the lungs. Cigarette smoking is responsible for approximately one-third of all cancer deaths. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx, esophagus, and pharynx. In addition, cigarette smoking is a contributing cause of cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, bladder, pancreas, uterine cervix, and kidney. Finally, cigarette smoking is a contributing factor in some leukemias. Currently, cigarette smoking is responsible for approximately 180,000 cancer deaths every year. However, quitting smoking immediately can reduce the risk of cancer. Ten years after quitting smoking, an ex-smoker's risk of lung cancer is about half that of a current smokers. Furthermore, quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing cancers of the mouth, esophagus, throat, bladder, cervix, and pancreas within a ten-year period.

Finally, cigarette smoking increases the risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in America, and smoking cigarettes is the number one risk factor for heart disease. Smoking is the main cause of sudden heart death; smokers who experience heart attacks are more likely to die within an hour of the heart attack than nonsmokers who experience heart attacks. In addition, even casual smokers greatly increase their chances of developing heart disease because smoking has almost immediate effects on the heart. However, within 20 minutes of smoking their last cigarette, an ex-smoker's heart rate drops to normal. Within a year of quitting, an ex-smokers risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker. After 15 years of not smoking, a former smoker's risk of coronary heart disease is equal to that of someone who never smoked.