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Smoking & disease
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Tobacco use kills around 114,000 people in the UK every year, more than 300 every day - as if a plane crashed every day and killed all its passengers, around 20% of all deaths. •
About half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit. •
Smoking causes at least 80% of all deaths from lung cancer, around 80% of all deaths from bronchitis and emphysema and around 17% of all deaths from heart disease. •
Thirty per cent of all cancer deaths can be attributed to smoking. Cancers other than lung cancer which are linked to smoking include:
cervical cancer
cancers of the mouth, lip and throat
cancer of the pancreas
bladder cancer
cancer of the kidney
stomach cancer
liver cancer
leukaemia
Fewer than 10% of lung cancer patients survive five years after diagnosis.
Men in the 15-64 age group in social class 5 are three times as likely to die of lung cancer as men in social class 1. Women in social class 5 are almost twice as likely to die of lung cancer as women in social class 1.
Smokers who smoke between 1 and 14 cigarettes a day have eight times the risk of dying from lung cancer compared to non-smokers. Smokers who smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day have 25 times this risk compared to non-smokers.
Cigarette smoking increases the risk of having a heart attack by two or three times, compared with the risk to non-smokers.
Smokers have a 10-16 times greater risk of developing peripheral vascular disease which may lead to amputation of one or both legs.
Women who smoke and take the contraceptive pill have 10 times the risk of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease compared with those who take the pill but are non-smokers.
Smoking has also been linked with an increased likelihood of menstrual problems (although not with PMT). Smoking leads to an earlier menopause: on average women smokers go through the menopause up to 2 years earlier than non-smokers and are at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis.
Smoking has been associated with increased sperm abnormalities and is a cause of impotence.
Smoking during pregnancy leads to an increased risk of: - spontaneous abortion (miscarriage);
bleeding during pregnancy;
premature birth;
low weight of babies at birth (which is associated with greater risks of ill-health and failure to thrive);
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death).
The risks from smoking pipes and cigars can be as great as smoking cigarettes. Smokers who inhale pipe and cigar smoke are just as much at risk of developing lung cancer as cigarette smokers. All cigar and pipe smokers have a higher risk than anyone else of developing cancers of the lip, mouth and throat. This risk is even greater if the smoker is also a heavy drinker. Cigar smokers are also at greater risk of heart disease compared with people who do not smoke. People who smoke and drink alcohol regularly are at greater risk of mouth and throat cancers. One study found that among consumers of both products the risk of these cancers was increased more than 35-fold among those who smoked forty or more cigarettes a day and took more than four alcoholic drinks a day.
There are some little-publicised health problems associated with smoking. It can affect both your sense of taste and smell. Smokers are more likely to develop facial wrinkles at a younger age and have dental hygiene problems. Stomach ulcers are made worse by smoking, and wounds, including surgical incisions, in smokers take longer to heal.
Teenage smokers experience more asthma and respiratory symptoms than non-smokers, suffer poorer health, have more school absences and are less fit. • Giving up smoking can reduce the risk of developing many of these problems. Within 10-15 years of giving up smoking, an ex-smoker's risk of developing lung cancer is only slightly greater than that of a non-smoker. A young smoker suffering from bronchitis or emphysema who gives up may see some improvement in lung function as a result: damage to lungs caused by years of smoking is permanent but quitting smoking prevents it worsening.
Exposure to other people's tobacco smoke has also been linked with the following health problems in adults:
increased sensitivity and reduced lung function in people with asthma;
irritation of the eye, nose and throat;
reduced lung function in adults with no chronic chest problems.
Passive smoking also harms babies and children, with an increased risk of lower respiratory tract infection, increased severity of asthma symptoms, more frequent occurrence of chronic coughs, phlegm and wheezing, and increased risk of cot death and chronic middle ear effusion (glue ear). More than 17,000 children under the age of five are admitted to hospital every year because of the effects of passive smoking.
Source: www.ash.org.uk - Action on Smoking and Health – November 2005
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