If
you need more incentive to quit smoking, here are some reasons that you may not
know about.
Published
Dec. 20, 2004.
You
know smoking causes lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease, but you're still
lighting up. To help you get on the wagon this new year, we've compiled a list
of little known ways your life can go up in smoke if you don't kick the habit.
From
an increased risk of blindness to a faster decline in mental function, here are
10 compelling -- and often surprising -- reasons to stick to your resolution in
2005. And so you don't have to go it alone, we've also put together a
step-by-step guide on how to use WebMD Resources to get started. No butts about
it!
Alzheimer's
Disease: Smoking Speeds Up Mental Decline
In
the elderly years, the rate of mental decline is up to five times faster in
smokers than in nonsmokers, according to a study of 9,200 men and women over age
65.
Participants
took standardized tests used to detect mental impairment when they entered the
study and again two years later. Higher rates of mental decline were found in
men and women -- and in persons with or without a family history of dementia or
Alzheimer's disease, the researchers reported in the March issue of the journal Neurology.
Smoking
likely puts into effect a vicious cycle of artery damage, clotting and increased
risk of stroke, causing mental decline, writes researcher A. Ott, MD, a medical
microbiologist with Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
The
bottom line: The study provides substantial evidence that chronic tobacco use is
harmful to the brain and speeds up onset of Alzheimer's disease, Ott says.
Lupus:
Smoking Raises Risk of Autoimmune Disease
Smoking
cigarettes raises the risk of developing lupus -- but quitting cuts that risk,
an analysis of nine studies shows.
Systemic
lupus erythematosus -- known as lupus -- is a chronic autoimmune disease that
can cause inflammation, pain, and tissue damage throughout the body. Although
some people with lupus have mild symptoms, it can become quite severe.
For
the analysis, Harvard researchers reviewed studies that examined the
relationship between cigarette smoking and lupus. Among current smokers, there
was "a small but significant increased risk" for the development of
lupus, they report. Former smokers did not have this increased risk, according
to the study, which appeared in the March issue of Arthritis &
Rheumatism.
SIDS:
Maternal Smoking Doubles Risk
Smoking
increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, a European analysis
shows.
The
researchers compared 745 SIDS cases with more than 2,400 live babies for
comparison and concluded that just under half of all deaths were attributable to
infants sleeping on their stomachs or sides. Roughly 16% of SIDS deaths were
linked to bed sharing, but for unknown reasons, bed sharing was particularly
risky when the mother smoked. The risk was very small when mothers did not smoke
during pregnancy, the researchers say.
Maternal
smoking alone was associated with a doubling in SIDS risk. The risk was 17 times
greater, however, for babies who bed shared and had mothers who smoked. The
findings are reported in the Jan. 17 issue of The Lancet.
"The
safest thing to do is to put the baby to bed on his back with no bedcovers in
the same room with parents who don't smoke," London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine epidemiologist Robert G. Carpenter, PhD, tells WebMD.
Colic:
Smoking Makes Babies Irritable, Too
Exposure
to tobacco smoke may increase babies' risk of colic, according to a review of
more than 30 studies on the topic.
Colic
often starts a few weeks after birth, peaking at about 5 to 8 weeks of age. It
usually goes away by 4 months of age. Babies' symptoms include irritability,
inconsolable crying, red face, clenched fists, drawn-up legs, and screaming.
Colic
affects an estimated 5%-28% of babies born in Western countries. Its causes have
been attributed to everything from exposure to cow's milk proteins to feeding
difficulties to maternal depression or anxiety.
Tobacco
smoke appears to raise levels of a gut hormone called motilin in the blood and
intestines. Motilin increases the contractions of the stomach and intestines,
increasing the movement of food through the gut. "Higher-than-average
motilin levels are linked to elevated risks of infantile colic," the
researchers write in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics.
An
Increased Risk of Impotence
Guys
concerned about their performance in the bedroom should stop lighting up,
suggests a study that linked smoking to a man's ability to get an erection. The
study of nearly 5,000 Chinese men showed that men who smoked more than a pack a
day were 60% more likely to suffer erectile dysfunction, compared with men who
never smoked cigarettes.
Overall,
15% of past and present smokers had experienced erectile dysfunction, more
commonly known as impotence. Among men who had never smoked, 12% had erection
problems, according to the study, presented last year at the American Heart
Association's annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and
Prevention in Miami.
Blindness:
Smoking Raises Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Smokers
are four times more likely to become blind because of age-related macular
degeneration than those who have never smoked. But quitting can lower that risk,
other research shows.
Age-related
macular degeneration is a severe and progressive condition that results in loss
of central vision. It results in blindness because of the inability to use the
part of the retina that allows for 'straight-ahead' activities such as reading,
sewing, and even driving a vehicle. While all the risk factors are not fully
understood, research has pointed to smoking as one major and modifiable cause.
"More
than a quarter of all cases of age-related macular degeneration with blindness
or visual impairment are attributable to current or past exposure to
smoking," Simon P. Kelly, MD, an ophthalmic surgeon with Bolton Hospitals
in the U.K, wrote in the March 4, 2004 issue of the BMJ. He came to his
conclusion after reviewing three studies involving 12,470 patients.
But
other studies show that former smokers have an only slightly increased risk of
age-related macular degeneration, compared with never smokers, he writes.
Rheumatoid
Arthritis: Genetically Vulnerable Smokers Increase Their Risk Even More
People
whose genes make them more susceptible to developing rheumatoid arthritis are
even more likely to get the disease if they smoke, say Swedish researchers.
In
fact, certain genetically vulnerable smokers can be nearly 16 times more likely
to develop the disease than nonsmokers without the same genetic profile,
according to the study in the October issue of the journal Arthritis &
Rheumatism.
Swedish
researchers asked participants about their smoking habits and screened their
blood for a gene-encoding protein sequence called the shared epitope (SE), which
is the major genetic risk factor currently linked to rheumatoid arthritis.
Compared with people who had never smoked and lacked SE genes, current smokers
with SE genes were 7.5 times more likely to have rheumatoid arthritis.
Smokers
with double SE genes were almost 16 times more likely to have rheumatoid
arthritis, while smokers without SE genes were only 2.4 times more likely to be
affected.
Snoring:
Even Living With a Smoker Raises Risk
Smoking
- or living with a smoker -- can cause snoring, according to a study of more
than 15,000 men and women.
Habitual
snoring, defined as loud and disturbing snoring at least three nights per week,
affected 24% of smokers, 20% of ex-smokers, and almost 14% of people who had
never smoked. The more people smoked, the more frequently they snored, the
researchers reported in the October issue of the American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Even
nonsmokers were more likely to snore if they were exposed to secondhand smoke in
their homes. Almost 20% of these nonsmokers snored, compared with nearly 13% who
had never been exposed to secondhand smoke at home.
Acid
Reflux: Heavy Smoking Linked to Heartburn
People
who smoke for more than 20 years are 70% more likely to have acid reflux disease
than nonsmokers, researchers reported in the November issue of the journal Gut.
Roughly
one in five people suffer from heartburn or acid reflux, known medically as
gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.
The
researchers based their findings on two major public health surveys conducted in
Norway in the 1980s and 1990s. Just more than 3,100 people who complained of
having heartburn and 40,000 people without reflux symptoms answered questions
about lifestyle factors including diet, exercise, alcohol consumption, and
tobacco use.
Breast
Cancer: Active Smoking Plays Bigger Role Than Thought
Other
research out in 2004 shows that active smoking may play a much larger role in
increasing breast cancer risk than previously thought.
In
the study, published in the Jan. 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, researchers looked at breast cancer risk among 116,544 women in the
California Teachers Study who reported their smoking status. Between 1996 and
2000, 2,000 of the women developed breast cancer.
The
prevalence of breast cancer among current smokers was 30% higher than the women
who had never smoked -- regardless of whether the nonsmokers had been exposed to
secondhand or passive smoke.
Those
at greatest risk: Women who started smoking before age 20, who began smoking at
least five years before their first full-term pregnancy, and who had smoked for
longer periods of time or smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day.
So
get going and check out the WebMD Resources for quitting this destructive cycle.
And
There's More ...
If
those top 10 reasons weren't enough to motivate you to quit smoking, keep this
in mind:
If
you're finally convinced you should quit, you can start right now with these
WebMD resources:
SOURCES:
Costenbader, K. Arthritis & Rheumatism, March 2004; vol 50: pp
849-857. Shenassa, E. Pediatrics, October 2004; vol 114: pp e497-e505.
News release, American Academy of Pediatrics. Henley, S. Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, June 2, 2004; vol 96: pp 853-861. News release, Journal
of the National Cancer Institute. News release, American Cancer Society.
Padyukov, L. Arthritis & Rheumatism, October 2004; vol 50: pp
3085-3092. WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise: "Rheumatoid Arthritis:
Overview." News release, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kelly, S. BMl,
March 6, 2004; vol 328: pp 337-338. Franklin, K. American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, October 2004; vol 170: pp 799-803.
News release, American Thoracic Society. Ott, A. Neurology, March 23,
2004; vol 62: pp 920-924. News release, American Heart Association. Abstract
presented at AHA conference. March 2003. Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, Nov. 15, 2000; vol 92: pp 1787. Goodman, E. Pediatrics,
October 2000; vol 106: pp 748-755. Brix, T. Arch Intern Med. 2000; vol
160: pp 661-666.