Heart Disease and Smoking

Anyone who has heard about heart disease has undoubtedly heard of the connection between heart disease and smoking. Those who smoke are at major risk for heart disease. Cigarette smoking is a contributing cause to many kinds of heart disease.

Heart Disease and Cigarette Smoking

Ongoing research regarding heart disease and smoking often adds to the long list of facts. The list below is not meant to be conclusive, therefore, but gives examples of the ways in which cigarette smoking causes heart disease.

* Nicotine, one of thousands of chemicals found in cigarettes, makes blood vessels constrict. The constriction increases blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease.

* Smoking decreases tolerance for exercise necessary to reduce the risk of disease.

* Smoking decreases good cholesterol (HDL), causing artery blockages. Regular long-term smokers have a 70 percent greater risk of coronary heart disease than do non-smokers.

* Smoking increases the blood’s tendency to clot.

* Smoking causes damage to the cerebrovascular system, greatly increasing risks of stroke and other heart diseases.

* Smoking creates a higher risk for peripheral artery disease and aortic aneurysms.

Heart Disease and Cigar or Pipe Smoking

Those who smoke tobacco in cigars or pipes are also at risk. The risk is not as great as that of cigarette smokers, but greater than that of non-smokers. The main risk for this group is coronary heart disease.

Heart Disease and Second-hand Smokers

The connection between second-hand smoke and cardiac disease is clear. Each year in the U.S., about 37,000 to 40,000 people die from heart and blood vessel disease caused by other people’s smoke. Of these, about 35,000 second-hand smokers die from coronary heart disease, including heart attack.

Heart Disease or Smoking – the Choice

Breaking the smoking habit may be difficult, but heart disease is more difficult. If 1.3 million people quit smoking each year, and they do, you can quit smoking, too. The benefits you gain are numerous.

* Improved tolerance for exercise
* Lessened risk of lung cancer
* Reduced risk of bladder cancer
* Reduced risk of heart disease

Experts say that three years after giving up cigarettes, ex-smokers have a 65 percent reduction in death from heart disease compared to those who do not give up nicotine.

Heart disease or smoking – which would you choose?