Frequently lung infections occur and they can go undetected. The lungs have a natural protective response system to tobacco smoke, claim researchers at National Jewish Health. These findings have been published online and have appeared in magazines in October of last year. There is a certain mechanism that can cause smokers to acquire chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Brian Day, senior author on the study and Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health said, "Although smoking is the overwhelming cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CODP), only 20 percent of smokers develop the disease."
However, researchers have known for a long time that the lungs actually mount up a protective response against tobacco smoke, which has been confirmed by researchers. Research done on mice show that they build up a type of fluid in their lungs, after 16 weeks of exposure to second hand smoke. The antioxidants in the fluids create a reaction with certain chemicals in tobacco smoke, preventing damage to tissue in the lungs.
Considering this research we have to wonder exactly how damaging second hand smoke can be outdoors. Does banning smoking outdoors on patios, for example, really make much of a difference?
[Via: Science Daily]
According to a new study young women who are smokers have double the chance of getting a stroke as their peers who do not smoke. The risk becomes bigger the more cigarettes a woman smokes a day.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Women 15 to 49 were studied. It was found that women who smoke one to 10 cigarettes a day increased their risk of stroke 2.2 times; those smoking 21 to 39 cigarettes a day increased their risk fourfold; for the heaviest smokers, having over 40 cigarettes a day were increasing their risk by 9.1 times.
466 people who had their first stroke were followed. They were compared with a group of 609 women who were of the same race, age and ethnicity, who had not had a stroke. It was found that after 5 years of quitting smoking the women had the same chance of getting a stroke as the women who had never smoked.
This is one good reason for women to stop smoking but the most important part of the survey was not emphasized - women who smoke did have the chance to decrease their risk of stroke.
[Via: WebMD]
According to a new study, smokers who weigh more have a greater chance of losing their hearing. This study goes on to say that loss of hearing can cause a person to become depressed and they may experience financial losses.
Hearing loss is usually attributed to repeatedly being exposed to loud noises. However, Antwerp University released a study which proved that obesity and smoking are also huge factors in hearing loss.
"If you are obese or if you are a smoker and you're also around loud noise, you're even more at risk for hearing loss," Jace Wolfe, Oklahoma City audiologist said.
Smoking and obesity have the same kind of impact on the ears as they would on any other part of the body. Smokers and people who are overweight have a poor flow of blood to the ears, which is why they cannot remove the toxic elements from their ears, and this in turn impairs hearing.
Wolfe said, "If you are overweight and a smoker, your cardiovascular function is not going to be as good as if you don't do these things."
The reasoning behind this study is quite logical, but there are many levels of obesity, just as there are smokers who smoke a couple packs a day and some who only smoke a couple of cigarettes.
[Via: newsok.com]
For some time now, it has been thought that women are more likely to get lung cancer from smoking than men. Recently the National Cancer Institute has released a study where 450,000 people were examined and no difference was found between the genders.
The smoking habits, diet, exercise and alcohol use for 279, 214 men and 184, 623 women between the ages of 50 and 71 from eight states were examined. After which lung cancer rates were looked, where it was found that there was only a 0.9% difference in risk between men and women.
Those individuals who smoke more than 2 packs a day were 50 times more likely to develop lung cancer.
Because the study was quite large Dr Neal Freedman, the leader of the research team, said the results were quite reliable. He said, "Our findings suggest that women are not more susceptible than men to the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking in the lung." He went on to say, "Vigorous efforts should continue to be directed at eliminating smoking in both sexes."
So it looks like women can worry a bit less, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't consider quitting.
[Via: BBC]
On the positive side of the smoking bans, the number of cardiac arrest cases has seen a sharp decline since smoking in public places was banned in the UK.
Some hospitals have seen the number of cases nearly halved with some of them reporting a decline of about 41% since the ban was brought into effect in July. Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy have also seen similar trends.
Many people are saying that the cause for this change is that many people have quit smoking, and a smaller number of people are smoking passively through exposure to smoke.
It is too early to get excited though, the Department of Health said this is, "good news" but went on to say that it is early days to give the smoke ban credit for the fall in heart attack rate. It is not only smokers that get heart attacks and very unlikely that half of the smoking population has quit smoking.
[Via: The Hindu]
