|
HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Never Too Late To Quit Smoking To Cut Heart Disease Risk! Being a preventable cause of premature death, cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for developing many chronic medical disorders including heart disease, stroke, Type-2 diabetes, lung cancer, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Every year, it causes more than 480,000 deaths (or about 1 in 5 death) in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC). Smoking can make it harder for a woman to become pregnant and can affect her baby’s health before and after birth. It can also affect men’s sperm that can lower fertility and it can affect bone health as well. Meanwhile, smoking can increase the risk of cataracts and eye-related macular degeneration. The health of teeth and gums could be affected by smoking, too. Hence, there is no excuse for smokers not to quit smoking. In fact, the risk of cancers of the mouth, throat and bladder and the risk of lung cancer will drop by half within 5 years and 10 years after quitting smoking respectively. The risk for stroke could drop to about the same as that of a non-smoker, and the risk of heart attack will fall sharply after quitting smoking. Last year, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine found that some cigarette smokers aged above 65 years old who kick the habit might reduce their risk of dying from heart disease to the level of those who never smoked far faster than previously found. Their findings were presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013 in Dallas held between November 16 and 20.
Previous research showed that older former smokers who had smoked less than 32 “pack years” of cigarettes could lower their risk of dying from heart disease to the level of lifelong nonsmokers after 15 years. The “pack year” measure is derived by multiplying the number of cigarettes smoked per day by the number of years a person was a smoker. For instance, 32 pack years can be 3.2 packs a day for 10 years or 2 packs a day for 16 years. Using data from 13 years of medical information from the Cardiovascular Health Study begun in 1989 and sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the researchers compared 853 people (319 had smoked less than 32 “pack years”) who quit smoking 15 or fewer years before with 2,557 people who never smoked cigarettes. Results of analysis showed that many people in the study reduced their risk of developing heart failure, or risk of dying from heart failure, heart attacks and strokes to the same level as those who never smoked in almost half the time as previous research had indicated. It was 8 years after cessation for half of the study participants. Even the risk of total mortality was lowered by 35 percent for those heavier smokers who smoked more than 32 “pack years” and quit smoking, compared to current smokers. Lung damage by smoking, on the other hand, is not easily reversible. The risk of dying from lung cancer, emphysema or COPD were still higher for those who smoked less than 32 “pack years” and quit up to 15 years or more ago. It is never too late to quit smoking. As indicated by the findings, even those who do not stop smoking until they reach the age of 65 appear to derive heart health benefits from stopping smoking. However, the harms that are brought by smoking affect not only the smokers themselves, but also people around them through secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke. When non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, they also take in nicotine and toxic chemicals by the same route smokers do. Hence, if you want to quit smoking, quit it as early as possible. Remember, this will benefit both you and the people surround you especially your family members who are with you most of the time.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright
2007-2012 © HowToPreventHeartDisease.com . All Rights Reserved.d........ |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
