The Perils of Smoking

The Perils of Smoking: Many patients with coronary heart disease have been noted to be heavy smokers. Doll and Hill, the famous research scientists from England, showed many years ago, that physicians between the ages of 35-45 years who smoked, were four times more likely to have a heart attack as compared to non-smoking physicians. The Framingham Heart Study similarly confirmed that smoking substantially increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. More interestingly, from a 26-year-follow-up of the Framingham Heart Study, Dr Philip Wolf and his colleagues found that cigarette smokers who quit smoking can significantly lower their risk of stroke within 2 years and cut down their risk by 50% within 5 years of cessation of smoking.
Not all smokers run the same degree of risk for developing coronary heart disease. Smoking-related risk of heart disease can be classified as: Low (1-4 cigarettes a day); moderate (5-14 cigarettes per day); or high (more than 15 cigarettes per day). Clearly, a person who has been smoking more than 15 cigarettes a day is at a much higher risk than someone smoking only 2-3 cigarettes per day.
The toxic and cancer-causing substances in the smoke cause slow damage to the epitheliums, the inner lining of the trachea and bronchi. Slowly, the lung tissue continues to be damaged, and the capacity of the lungs to expand is limited, causing shortness of breath. Chronic irritation and destruction of the lining of the respiratory system results in cough, phlegm and repeated infections.
Nicotine leads to the clogging of arteries and blood clot formation. The platelets that are important constituents of the blood are damaged by nicotine. Damaged platelets may lead to blood clot formation in the coronary arteries. Nicotine also increases the clotting of the blood by adversely affecting the concentration of fibrinogen, a blood protein that is often noted to be high in smokers

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