Tobacco-Related Diseases

Tobacco-related diseases, including lung disease, heart disease, stroke^* and cancer^* are illnesses caused by tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

What Is Tobacco-Related Disease?

Where there is smoke, there is disease. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It leads to more than 430,000 deaths each year, or one in every five deaths. Hundreds of studies have found that cigarette smoking can cause lung disease, heart disease, and stroke. Smoking also can cause cancer of the lung, mouth, larynx^*, esophagus^*, and bladder^*. In addition, it plays a role in cancer of the cervix^*, pancreas^*, and kidney^*. Smokeless tobacco and cigars can have deadly results, too, including cancer of the mouth, larynx, and esophagus.

The harmful effects of smoking do not end with the smoker. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have babies with a low birth weight, a leading cause of death among babies. Nonsmokers are affected by secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, which is smoke from other people's cigarettes. Each year, secondhand smoke kills about 3,000 nonsmokers in the United States by lung cancer. It also causes up to 300,000 children to get infections of the lower airways and lungs. In addition, there is some evidence that secondhand smoke may increase nonsmokers' risk of getting heart disease.

Who Uses Tobacco, and Why?

Tobacco eventually leads to death or disability for half of all regular users. Nevertheless, about 47 million adults in the United States smoke cigarettes. Four out of five adults who ever smoked began by age 18. This means that students who stay smoke-free through high school probably will never light up. Young people who start smoking are more likely to get low grades in school than nonsmokers. These students often have low self-esteem, and they may turn to smoking because they think it will make them more attractive or popular. Because such teenagers lack self-confidence, they may have trouble saying no to tobacco.

Who smokes cigarettes in the United States? According to federal figures, people of all ages and ethnic groups smoke. But some patterns are evident. During the 1990s, the highest rates of smoking were among white high school students, and adults of Native American and Native Alaskan ancestry. In those groups, almost 40 percent smoked. African-American men were somewhat more likely to smoke than white men. Least likely to smoke were Asian-American women (about 6 percent). Among high school students, African-Amercan students' rate of smoking nearly doubled in the 1990s, alarming health officials. But even so, they were far less likely to smoke than white or Hispanic students.

Parts of the body affected by tobacco in males and females.

How Do Smokers Become Hooked?

Tobacco contains a chemical known as nicotine (NIK-o-teen). Smokers can become addicted to this substance, which means they can become dependent on it physically and suffer unpleasant symptoms when it is taken away. For some people, the addiction^* to nicotine is as strong as that to heroin or cocaine. In fact, when nicotine is breathed in cigarette smoke, it reaches the brain even faster than drugs that enter the body through a vein.

What About Smokeless Tobacco and Cigars?

Some people use smokeless tobacco, chewing tobacco, or snuff, because they think it is safer than cigarettes. However, tobacco is tobacco, and it can cause problems in any form. Smokeless tobacco can cause bleeding gums, tooth loss, and sores of the mouth that never heal. Eventually, it can lead to cancer. In addition, young people who use smokeless tobacco are more likely to start using cigarettes, too. Other people prefer cigars because of their glamorous image. However, cigar smokers, like cigarette smokers, have higher death rates from heart disease than nonsmokers. They are also more likely to get cancer of the mouth, larynx, and esophagus.

What Health Problems Does Tobacco Cause?

The following are just some of the diseases that are caused by or linked to tobacco:

Chronic bronchitis

Bronchitis (brong-KY-tis) refers to inflammation^* of the bronchial (BRONG-kee-al) tubes, the airways that connect the windpipe to the lungs. This leads to a cough that brings up lots of thick, sticky mucus^*. About 14 million Americans have chronic^* bronchitis, and smoking is by far the most common cause.

Healthy lung of a nonsmoker compared with damaged lung of a smoker.

© O. Auerbach, Visuals Unlimited.

Emphysema

Emphysema (em-fe-ZEE-ma) is a chronic lung disease in which the air sacs of the lungs are overly large. This condition makes the lungs work less efficiently and leads to shortness of breath. About 2 million Americans have emphysema, and most of these cases are caused by smoking.

Heart disease

A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is decreased or stopped. This happens when one of the large blood vessels that bring blood to the heart is blocked, usually by a buildup of fatty deposits inside the vessel. More than 470,000 Americans die each year from a heart attack. Smokers are twice as likely as nonsmokers to have a heart attack, and two to four times as likely to die suddenly of heart problems.

Stroke

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel to the brain is blocked or bursts, which can damage the brain. This is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. Strokes also kill almost 160,000 people a year. Smoking raises the risk of having a stroke.

Lung cancer

Lung cancer kills more people than any other kind of cancer. Each year, more than 170,000 new cases of lung cancer occur in the United States, and about 160,000 people die from it. Smoking is the direct cause of almost 90 percent of all lung cancer cases.

Other cancers

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemicals, and more than 40 of these have been shown to cause cancer in humans and animals. Smokers are more likely to get several kinds of cancer, including that of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, bladder, cervix, pancreas, and kidney.

How Can These Problems Be Prevented?

By far the best way to prevent tobacco-related diseases is never to start smoking. There is still good news for people who already are smokers, though. Those who quit, no matter how old they are, live longer than those who keep smoking. Quitting is hard. It usually takes people two or more tries to succeed. However, studies have shown that each time a person tries to quit, he or she learns more about what works and what does not. Eventually, all people can succeed if they really want to stop smoking. Half of all people who have ever smoked have quit.

Some people see a health care provider or join a program to help them stop smoking. Three methods seem to work.

Using the nicotine patch or gum

Research shows that almost all smokers can benefit from temporarily wearing a small patch or chewing gum that contains nicotine. The nicotine passes through the skin and reduces the craving for this substance. Using the prescription patch or gum doubles the odds of success. A prescription nicotine nose spray is also approved for use in the United States.

Getting support and encouragement

Personal counseling or a quit-smoking program can help someone learn how to live life as a nonsmoker. Studies have shown that the more counseling people have, the greater their chances of success. Look for a quit-smoking program that offers at least four to seven sessions over a period of at least 2 weeks. Friends and family members can also give support. In addition, self-help books and telephone hotlines may be helpful.

Teeth and gums of a smoker stained from tobacco. No one will want to kiss someone like this.

© 1997 Custom Medical Stock Photo.

Learning to handle the urge to smoke

People benefit from becoming aware of the things that make them want to smoke. For example, many people like to smoke when they are around other smokers or are feeling sad or frustrated. It is a good idea to avoid these situations as much as possible when trying to quit. To reduce stress, do physical things that are fun and healthy, such as going for a walk or bike ride. Keep the mind busy, too, to help control thoughts of smoking.

User Contributions:

The following comments are not guaranteed to be that of a trained medical professional. Please consult your physician for advice.

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