Risks of Smoking
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Benefits of Quitting
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Shortened life expectancy
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An average smoker can expect to live 8.3 fewer years than a nonsmoker (your actual risk is proportional to the number of packs and length of time you have smoked).
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After 10 to 15 years, an ex-smoker's mortality rate approaches that of a person who has never smoked.
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Heart disease
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Smokers are twice as likely to have a heart attack as nonsmokers, and five times more likely to die suddenly from a heart attack.
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Increased risk decreases sharply one year after quitting smoking. After 10 years, an ex-smoker's risk approaches that of a person who has never smoked.
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Peripheral vascular disease
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Because it accelerates atherosclerosis (“hardening of the arteries”), smoking can impair blood circulation in the legs, which can lead to gangrene and amputation.
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Risk decreases when the progression of atherosclerosis is slowed.
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Lung cancer
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Cigarette smoking is responsible for nearly 85 percent of all lung cancers.
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After 10 to 15 years, an ex-smoker's risk approaches that of a person who has never smoked.
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Larynx cancer
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Smoking increases risk by up to 18 times that of a nonsmoker.
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Risk gradually decreases, reaching normal after 10 years.
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Mouth cancer
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Smokers have three to 10 times as many oral cancers as nonsmokers. Alcohol may magnify the risk. Pipe tobacco, cigars and snuff are also major contributors.
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Reducing or eliminating smoking and drinking lowers risk in the first few years. Risk drops to the level of a nonsmoker in 10 to 15 years.
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Cancer of the esophagus
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Smoking cigarettes, pipes or cigars increases by two to nine times the risk of dying from this cancer. Combining these with alcohol magnifies the risk.
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Since risk is proportional to dose, reducing or eliminating smoking and drinking should lower the risk.
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Cancer of the bladder
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A smoker's risk is seven to 10 times greater than a nonsmoker's, and increases further when combined with certain occupational exposures.
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Risk decreases gradually over seven years to that of a nonsmoker.
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Cancer of the pancreas
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The risk of dying from this cancer is two to five times higher for smokers than for nonsmokers.
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Since risk appears related to dose, stopping smoking should reduce it.
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Chronic bronchitis and emphysema
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Smokers face four to 25 times greater risk of death from these diseases; lung damage occurs even in young smokers.
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Within weeks of quitting, cough disappears. Lung function may improve and the rate of deterioration may slow down.
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Stillbirth, prematurity, low birth weight and SIDS
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Women who smoke have more stillbirths, more low-birth-weight babies, and more babies who are vulnerable to disease and death. A high proportion of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome babies had mothers who smoked.
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Risk to the fetus is reduced if the mother quits smoking before the fourth month of pregnancy.
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