THOUSANDS of smokers may be dying of a disease that they have no idea they’ve got, research shows.
Smoking can lead to many deadly conditions, such as cardiovascular disease.
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Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes any illness of the heart and blood vessels, can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
According to the CVD Event Report, at least 10 percent of women and 20 percent of men who smoke will die from a CVD event such as a stroke or heart attack.A study was published In the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers found that although some people may have known they had CVD, most would not have known they had it before it claimed their lives.
The first “symptom”Their death was the result of their illness.
This was the most likely scenario for people who are over 60 years old – 4.9% of female smokers and 6.7% of male smokers.
The rates were still high for people over 50, at 4.5 % and 4.8 %, respectively.
Even in young people, 1.6/1.7% of smokers die suddenly of CVD events they didn’t know about.
These figures were lower among people who did not smoke.
In the UK, there were 6.9 million smokers in 2019. This suggests that hundreds of thousands are dying from sudden death.
Statisticians estimate that approximately 78,000 people are killed each year from smoking-related causes.
Researchers concluded that smokers are more likely to develop CVD. “in particular on the occurrence of a fatal CVD event as first presentation”Compared to non-smokers.
They analysed nine previous studies that included more than 106,000 US adults, who were each followed up for 25 years.
It’s well documented that harmful substances in tobacco can damage and narrow the blood vessels.
It can lead to atherosclerosis, heart disease, and peripheral artirial disease. These are all examples of CVD.
The symptoms include chest pain, shortness, chest pain, feeling faint, nausea, feeling nauseous, feeling in your legs, changing your skin colour, and erectile dysfunction.
Sometimes, there aren’t any signs.
CVD is a leading cause of disability and death in the UK. It can be caused by smoking, especially if someone smokes for a longer period of time.
However, researchers are concerned that the message may not be clear enough to young people who aren’t often included in research on smokers’ health.
Dr. Judith Prochaska, a Stanford University Professor of Medicine and a researcher in tobacco, said Everyday Health: “Smoking is by far the leading cause of lung cancer — if not for cigarette smoking, lung cancer would be a rare disease.
“Whereas, with heart disease, there are many causes, and only about one in five cases of heart disease is attributed to cigarette smoking.”
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among smokers, but it doesn’t get recognised as a “smoking disease”Dr Prochaska stated that lung cancer is the same way.
Lead author of the study Dr Sadiya Khan, an assistant professor and a cardiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said: “The risk for Heart disease is sometimes thought of as something that doesn’t affect younger adults and is a long time away.
“These results emphasise that even short-term exposure to smoking can have negative consequences.”
But the researchers noted it’s never too late to quit cigarettes.
One year after quitting smoking, the risk of having a heart attack is reduced by half.
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