Health Hazards of Cigarette Smoking
by Joseph D. Tabora, M.D.
CommentsThis article starts below.
The health hazards associated with cigarette smoking are:
- Cancer of the lungs
- Cancer of the lips
- Cancer of the oral cavity
- Cancer of the pharynx
- Cancer of the larynx
- Cancer of the esophagus
- Cancer of the pancreas
- Cancer of the bladder
- Coronary artery disease, or the hardening and narrowing of arteries supplying blood to the heart.
- Myocardial infarction, or heart attack, occurs when a part of the heart become asphyxiated because of cessation of blood flow.
- Chronic bronchitis. One of the chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases characterized by incessant coughing and copious phlegm.
- Emphysema. One of the chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases characterized by destruction of the alveoli, the terminal airsacs where oxygen combines with blood.
- Stroke, or cerebro-vascular accident, or brain attack, occurs when a part of the brain is asphyxiated because of cessation of blood flow.
- Thromboangiitis obliterans, or Buerger's disease, is the narrowing of arteries supplying blood to the arms or legs, more common among smokers.
- Low birth weight infants of mothers who smoke.
- Prematurity, or the delivery of an infant less than 37 weeks age of gestation.
- Spontaneous abortion
- Stillbirth, or the delivery of a dead infant.
- Infant mortality, or the death of an infant less than one year of age.
- Abruptio placentae, or the premature separation of the placenta from the uterus, causing profuse bleeding before delivery.
- Placenta previa, or the implantation of the placenta on or near the cervical opening, causing profuse bleeding before delivery.
- Premature rupture of membranes which surround the fetus.
Why smoke?
No health benefits from cigarette smoking has been shown by any reliable study.