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Smokers do not always die of lung cancer
It has long been known that smoking harms health and can lead to death in the long term. However, smokers do not only die of lung cancer more often, but also of diseases that have not yet been recognized as a consequence of tobacco use, such as kidney failure or infection.
Risks from smoking greater than assumed
It has long been known that tobacco consumption endangers health, but the risks are apparently even greater than previously thought. A study recently published in the journal New England Journal of Medicine finds that as many as 17 percent of smokers' mortality rates are due to diseases not previously associated with the blue haze. Smokers not only become more likely to develop lung cancer and cardiovascular disease, but also have a higher risk of dying from diseases such as kidney failure, breast cancer, prostate cancer, bowel disease, high blood pressure, infections and various respiratory diseases.
(Image: Bernd Kasper / pixelio.de) Smokers do not just die from typical "smoker's suffering"
The US researchers examined the data of almost one million people aged 55 and over, who were accompanied by cohort studies from 2000 to 2011. According to the data, 181,377 died in this observation phase, of which 16,475 were smokers. The scientists found that some smokers died of diseases that had not been considered as typical "smoker's disease" until now. So far, it has been thought that the two-to-three-fold increase in smokers mortality is due to the 21 common diseases listed in the US official statistics as smoker's disease. These diseases were listed by the Surgeon General, the United States's highest authority on public health affairs, in 2014 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. These include 12 types of cancer such as lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and colon cancer, cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, arterial diseases such as atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD (smoker's lung).
Further investigations needed
The authors of the study around Dr. Brian Carter of the US Cancer Society found that, for example, the relative risk of dying from kidney failure is 1.7 to 2.3 times higher in smokers. And the risk of dying from an infection is 2 to 2.7 times higher. Breast cancer is 1.2 to 1.5 and prostate cancer is 1.2 to 1.7. According to the scientists, further investigations are needed to investigate the connections between the individual diseases and the consumption of nicotine. "Although the relative risk of classic tobacco-associated diseases is up to 25 times higher," said Thomas Zander of the German Association of Internal Medicine (DGIM), "but given the new numbers, it becomes apparent that tobacco use is significantly involved in many other diseases is. "
It is always worthwhile to quit smoking
According to the internist, however, the study also gives hope: "Interestingly, after a complete smoking cessation, the risk is reduced again, especially in the case of these diseases - now newly assigned to smoking," says Zander. According to the data, the increased risk of these diseases among former smokers decreased in proportion to the number of smoke-free years. "These findings confirm once again that it is always worthwhile to quit smoking," commented Professor. Michael Hallek, who was not involved in the study. In a statement, the Chairman of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM) and Director of the Clinic I of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Cologne, Hallek said: "It is important to clarify that the health damage caused by smoking are diverse and the classic deterrent image Beyond the lung cancer, further serious health losses are associated with it. "(ad)
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