There Is No “Safe Amount” of Cigarette Smoking
New research indicates that even a few cigarettes a day can cause extensive damage
There may be a perception among many in the general public that, while heavy smoking is recognized as a problem that causes lung disease, smoking “a little bit” should be OK. “I only smoke a few cigarettes a day, Doc,” is what I have been told by many patients. Well, recent research has shown that even this can cause extensive, lasting damage.
Researchers studied data on six US population-based cohorts included in the NHLBI Pooled Cohort Study, looking at smoking rates and the decline in lung function. After studying over 25,000 patients, they found that, even if people stopped smoking years ago, lung function continues to decline at a faster rate than never-smokers.
Now, everyone experiences a decline in lung function with age, but this decline is greatly accelerated in people who smoke. Even in people who smoke less than 5 cigarettes a day, their lung function declines at a rate of around five times that of former-smokers.
The researchers concluded:
Former smokers and low-intensity current smokers have accelerated lung function decline compared with…
