![]() ![]() Secondhand smoke exposure can also increase the frequency and severity of asthma symptoms among children who have asthma. Pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk of having a baby with a small reduction in birth weight ( 1).Ĭhildren exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of SIDS, ear infections, colds, pneumonia, and bronchitis. Exposure to secondhand smoke also increases the risk of stroke by 20 to 30% ( 1). In the United States, exposure to secondhand smoke is estimated to cause about 34,000 deaths from heart disease each year ( 1). It increases the risk of heart disease by an estimated 25 to 30% ( 4). Exposure to secondhand smoke irritates the airways and has immediate harmful effects on a person’s heart and blood vessels. Secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in nonsmoking adults and children ( 2, 4). Surgeon General estimates that living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker’s chances of developing lung cancer by 20 to 30% ( 4). Approximately 7,300 lung cancer deaths occur each year among adult nonsmokers in the United States as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke ( 1). Inhaling secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmoking adults ( 1, 2, 4). ![]() Surgeon General, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have classified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) ( 5, 11, 12). Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke, involuntary smoking, and passive smoking) is the combination of “sidestream” smoke (the smoke given off by a burning tobacco product) and “mainstream” smoke (the smoke exhaled by a smoker) ( 4, 5, 10, 11). What are the risks of tobacco smoke to nonsmokers? But regardless of their age, smokers can substantially reduce their risk of disease, including cancer, by quitting. The longer a smoker’s duration of smoking, the greater their likelihood of experiencing harm from smoking, including earlier death ( 7). Men who smoke are at greater risk of erectile dysfunction ( 1, 9). A woman who smokes during or after pregnancy increases her infant’s risk of death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) ( 2, 3). A pregnant smoker is at higher risk of miscarriage, having an ectopic pregnancy, having her baby born too early and with an abnormally low birth weight, and having her baby born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate ( 1). Smoking makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant. Both of these shifts may be due to changes in cigarette design and composition, in how tobacco leaves are cured, and in how deeply smokers inhale cigarette smoke and the toxicants it contains ( 1, 8). There have also been changes over time in the type of lung cancer smokers develop – a decline in squamous cell carcinomas but a dramatic increase in adenocarcinomas. Since the 1960s, a smoker’s risk of developing lung cancer or COPD has actually increased compared with nonsmokers, even though the number of cigarettes consumed per smoker has decreased ( 1). In addition, smoking causes inflammation and impairs immune function ( 1). Smokers are at higher risk of developing pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other airway infections ( 1– 3). Smoking also causes heart disease, stroke, aortic aneurysm (a balloon-like bulge in an artery in the chest), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ( chronic bronchitis and emphysema), diabetes, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, age-related macular degeneration, and cataracts, and worsens asthma symptoms in adults. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, cervix, colon, and rectum, as well as acute myeloid leukemia ( 1– 3). Smoking harms nearly every bodily organ and organ system in the body and diminishes a person’s overall health. Mortality rates among smokers are about three times higher than among people who have never smoked ( 6, 7). Of those premature deaths, about 36% are from cancer, 39% are from heart disease and stroke, and 24% are from lung disease ( 1). Cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke cause about 480,000 premature deaths each year in the United States ( 1). Smoking is the leading cause of premature, preventable death in this country.
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