The following is the list of major diseases caused due to smoking. Have a look at them.
Cancer
The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear. Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. This is particularly true of lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, which hardly ever affect non-smokers. The following facts prove that.
1). Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking.
2). One in ten moderate smokers and almost one in five heavy smokers (>15 cigarettes per day) will die of lung cancer.
3). If no-one smoked, lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis - only 0.5 per cent of people who've never touched a cigarette develop lung cancer.
4). If you smoke, the risk of contracting mouth cancer is four times higher than for a non-smoker. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips.
5). The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you've smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking.
6). For ex-smokers, it takes approximately 15 years before the risk of lung cancer drops to the same as that of a non-smoker.
Other types of cancer that are more common in smokers are:
* bladder cancer
* cancer of the kidneys
* cervical cancer
* cancer of the pancreas
* cancer of the oesophagus
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death due to smoking. Hardening of the arteries is a process that develops with time, when cholesterol and other fats deposit in the arteries, leaving them narrow, rigid or blocked. When the arteries narrow, blood clots are likely to form. Cardiovascular disease can take many forms depending on which blood vessels are involved, and all of them are more common in people who smoke. Smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing process in your arteries. It starts earlier and blood clots are two to four times more likely.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
COPD is a collective term for a group of conditions that block airflow and make breathing more difficult, such as:
* emphysema - breathlessness caused by damage to the air sacs (alveoli)
* chronic bronchitis - coughing with a lot of mucus that continues for at least three months.
* Smoking is the most common cause of COPD and is responsible for 80 per cent of cases.
Quitting can help
Lung damage from COPD is permanent, but giving up smoking at any stage reduces the rate of decline in lung capacity. In smokers, the rate of decline in lung function can be three times the usual rate. As lung function declines, breathlessness begins. As the condition progresses, severe breathing problems can require hospital care. The final stage is death from slow and progressive breathlessness.
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