Effects of Smoking
Please use the links below to download factsheets on the titles listed:
• Asthma
• Back Pain
• Childhood Illness
• Choosing Treatment
• COPD
• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• Operation
• Oral Health
• Pregnancy
• Vascular Disease
Smoking (quitting) - Risks
Smoking is bad for your health and, if you smoke, you are at greater risk from illness and early death than non-smokers. However, people who do not smoke themselves are also at considerable risk if they breath in the smoke from other people's cigarettes (passive smoking).
Smoking increases your risk of getting many serious, and often fatal, diseases, including:
• lung cancer,
• cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, oesophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas and stomach,
• coronary heart disease,
• stroke, and
• chronic bronchitis and emphysema (lung conditions).
Risks of smoking during pregnancy
Smoking can make you less fertile. Therefore, not smoking can improve you chances of conceiving. If you smoke, there is a greater chance of complications occurring during pregnancy and labour, such as sickness, miscarriage, and bleeding. Smoking while pregnant can also increase the risk of premature birth and stillbirth.
Smoking during pregnancy can also affect your developing baby. Your baby may have a lower birth weight, be weaker, and grow more slowly. Smoking can also cause damage to your babys airways which could lead to breathing problems or asthma.
Although smoking at any stage of pregnancy can harm your baby, the most damage is caused during months 4-9. Therefore, if you stop smoking during the first three months of pregnancy, there is less chance that your baby will be born underweight.
The risks of passive smoking to children
Children are at particular risk from the effects of passive smoking. They have an increased risk of developing lower respiratory tract infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia. One recent study found that children who live in households where both parents smoke have a 72% risk of developing respiratory illnesses.
As well as making children more vulnerable to chest, ear, nose and throat infections, passive smoking causes reduced lung function, and makes asthma worse. It is also a risk factor for new cases of asthma in children.
For more information on smoking/quitting smoking please click here.
Health encyclopaedia,
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/
September 11, 2007 |
