Africa-Press – Namibia. Doctors treating lung cancer cases in countries or societies where people smoke a lot of cigarettes will realize the debilitating consequences of tobacco smoke on human health.
Tobacco smoke is one of the leading causes of and high-risk factors for lung cancer. The most common type of lung cancer caused by the smoke toxin is the squamous cell lung cancer. Most patients affected by squamous cell lung cancer have a history of smoking at some stage in life.
Even people who have withdrawn from smoking in 5-10 years can still develop lung cancer. Looking at current epidemiological studies and the prevalence of lung cancer caused by cigarette smoke, there is a remarkable reduction in the number of cases.
For decades there has been a massive campaign to sensitize the public about the dangers of smoking. The most dangerous substance in the tobacco smoke is nicotine. Which is responsible for smoking addiction.
Once tobacco smoke is inhaled, nicotine enters the lungs and is absorbed quickly into the bloodstream and travels to the brain very quickly where it is absorbed and integrated into high memory centers.
Nicotine makes people get addicted to cigarettes as well as other tobacco products.
There are other dangerous chemical substances found in tobacco smoke, such as hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, 1, 3–Butadiene, ethylene oxide, among many others. All these chemicals inflict specific diseases or toxic injuries on the human body. They are carcinogenic compounds found in tobacco smoke.
While lung cancer is commonly known to be caused by smoking, the smoke is known to cause other cancerous diseases like the esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, and acute myeloid leukemia. However, the cause of lung cancer in smokers varies depending on associated factors such as duration and intensity of exposure to the smoke.
Smoking is widely linked to various other bodily chronic problems like aortic aneurysm which is like a balloon found in the main artery of the chest and the abdomen. The smoke also causes stroke in many patients, especially old patients or patients with other associated health problems. It is the most common cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with either chronic bronchitis or emphysema as seen in the majority of patients. Asthma without a genetic line can be caused by smoking as well. Smoking is also responsible for many other diseases of upper respiratory tract infections.
Proven scientific research links severe prematurity and low birth weight to smoking in pregnant mothers. Also, women who smoke during or after pregnancy increase the baby’s risk of death from the disease known as sudden death infant syndrome. This death is usually associated with abnormalities in the portion of an infant’s brain that controls breathing and arousal, especially during sleep hours.
Benefits of quitting smoking
Quitting smoking is an idea that should be widely encouraged for smokers. Though reduced risks after quitting depend on age, there are many health benefits gained after quitting.
After a long-time smoker has stopped smoking, within a few days, the level of carbon monoxide in the blood begins to decline. The upper respiratory tract function is spared with the absence of the smoke. Unexplained coughs and wheezes in smokers disappear and this improves lung function. Heart-related problems such as arrhythmias and high blood pressure seen in smokers become stable progressively.
Carbon monoxide reduces the blood’s ability to carry oxygen as seen in some patients with anemia. Quitting smoking subsequently reduces the chance of suffering from acute myeloid leukemia.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
