Coronary heart disease
Coronary heart disease is one of the diseases, which is caused by smoking. It is the disease in which the arteries supplying blood to the heart are seriously narrowed by atherosclerosis, causing angina and, sometimes, a heart attack. Smoking is one of the major risk factors for heart attack. The risk of developing CHD increases with length and intensity of exposure to cigarette smoke. Overall, smokers have a 70% greater rate of mortality from CHD than non-smokers. Smokers consuming more than 40 cigarettes per day have mortality rates between two and three times greater than non-smokers.
Stroke
Strokes occur because of damage to the brain due to one of two things - either the blood supply to the brain is blocked or blood has escaped into the brain. These can happen because of atherosclerosis or high blood pressure. Smoking may cause an artery in the brain to become blocked by a blood clot or other debris carried in the bloodstream. This cuts off the blood supply to the surrounding brain cells and causes them to die. This can affect thinking, movement, speech and/or the senses. About a third of those who have a stroke die within 12 months. Another third become permanently disabled.
Peripheral Vascular Disease
This type of cardiovascular disease occurs mainly in older people. It is a narrowing of the arteries in the extremities caused by blocked arteries which reduce blood circulation. Mostly, this occurs in the legs and feet, but can also occur in the arms and hands. The main outcome of peripheral vascular disease is pain while walking and resting. Sometimes the blood supply is so reduced that amputation is necessary to prevent gangrene. Nine out of ten people with this disease are smokers. Immediately stopping smoking is the most important treatment for this disease.
Cancers of the mouth and throat
Smoking cigarettes, pipes and cigars is a risk factor for all cancers associated with the larynx, oral cavity and esophagus. Over 90% of patients with oral cancer use tobacco by either smoking or chewing it. The risk for these cancers increases with the number of cigarettes smoked and those who smoke pipes or cigars experience a risk similar to that of cigarette smokers. In total, 3522 in the UK people suffered from oral cancer in 1993. (“Oral cancer” includes cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth and throat.)
Heavy smokers have laryngeal cancer mortality risks 20 to 30 times greater than non-smokers. People who drink alcohol and smoke have a much higher risk of oral and pharyngeal (throat) cancers than those only using tobacco or alcohol. A US study revealed 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. It has been estimated that tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking account for about three quarters of all oral and pharyngeal cancers.
