……..Baffling Statistics about Smoking
Hello There!
I’m Dr.Avon and I have a passion for
good &healthy living.
I believe every individual no matter
the age, race, strata or gender has the right to a healthy life.
So with this medium, I shall, in my
own little way, give you facts and tips that will help improve your health.
With all that being said, today is a
very significant day in the Health Industry and I’d like to share some sad but
hard truths.
Today is ‘World No Tobacco Day’.
This is celebrated on May 31st of every year as part of the World
Health Organization’s efforts to drastically reduce the number of tobacco-related
deaths worldwide.
Tobacco related deaths account for 1 in every 10 deaths worldwide. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body.
Smoking causes many diseases and reduces the health of smokers in general.
Smoking and Death
- The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking
account for an estimated 443,000
deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths, each year in the United
States.
- More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by
all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol
use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
- Smoking causes an estimated 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% of all lung cancer deaths in women.
- An estimated 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive
lung disease are caused by smoking.
Smoking and
Increased Health Risks
Compared with non-smokers, smoking
is estimated to increase the risk of:
- coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times
- stroke by 2 to 4 times
- men developing lung cancer by 23 times
- women developing lung cancer by 13 times
- Dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases (such as
chronic bronchitis and emphysema) by 12 to 13 times.
Smoking and
Cardiovascular Disease
- Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading
cause of death in the United States.
- Smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the
blood vessels (arteries) and puts smokers at risk of developing peripheral
vascular disease (i.e., obstruction of the large arteries in the arms and
legs that can cause a range of problems from pain to tissue loss or
gangrene).
- Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm (i.e., a
swelling or weakening of the main artery of the body—the aorta—where it
runs through the abdomen).
Smoking and
Respiratory Disease
- Smoking causes lung cancer.
- Smoking causes lung diseases (e.g., emphysema,
bronchitis, chronic airway obstruction) by damaging the airways and
alveoli (i.e., small air sacs) of the lungs.
Smoking and
Cancer
Smoking causes the following cancer
types:
- Acute myeloid leukemia
- Bladder cancer
- Cancer of the cervix
- Cancer of the oesophagus
- Kidney cancer
- Cancer of the larynx (voice box)
- Lung cancer
- Cancer of the oral cavity (mouth)
- Pancreatic cancer
- Cancer of the pharynx (throat)
- Stomach cancer
Smoking and
Other Health Effects
Smoking has many adverse
reproductive and early childhood effects, including increased risk for:
- infertility,
- preterm delivery,
- stillbirth,
- low birth weight, and
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Smoking
is also associated with the following adverse health effects:
- Post-menopausal women who smoke have lower bone density
than women who never smoked.
- Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture
than women who never smoked.
With all of these
dangers, it is crystal clear that the dangers from smoking are grave.
We as a people need
to make a commitment to abstain from smoking.
It’s a hard choice
but it’s the right choice and the world would be HEALTHIER for it!!!
