UPMC HealthBeat Spanish
lung cancer
5 min read
medical examinerUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center
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Burning tobacco produces more than 4,000 chemicals, including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar. These chemicals can turn normal cells into cancer cells.
Learn how to:
- Smoking changes your lungs and airways.
- Quitting smoking can help reduce your risk of many health problems – from a difficult cough to life-threatening conditions such as COPD andcancer。
- Secondhand smoke is harmful to the lungs.
Effects of cigarettes on the lungs and airways
Smoking can cause significant changes in the lungs and airways. Some changes are sudden and last only a short time, such as colds and pneumonia. Other, more chronic changes happen slowly and can last a lifetime -- such as emphysema.
Here are some of the changes that happen to your lungs and airways when you smoke.
more mucus and infection
When you smoke, the size and number of mucus-producing cells in your lungs and airways increase. As a result, mucus volume increases and thickens.
Your lungs cannot effectively remove excess mucus. As a result, mucus can lodge in your airways, clogging them and causing you to cough. This excess mucus is also susceptible to infection.
Smoking causes accelerated aging of the lungs and blocks their natural defense mechanisms to protect you from infection.
less airflow
Smoking can inflame and irritate the lungs. Even a cigarette or two can cause irritation and coughing.
Smoking also damages your lungs and lung tissue. This reduces the air space and number of blood vessels in the lungs, resulting in less oxygen to key parts of the body.
less cilia
The lungs are lined with broom-like hairs called cilia that clean the lungs.
A few seconds after lighting a cigarette, the movement of the cilia slows down. Smoking just one cigarette can slow down the activity of cilia for several hours. Smoking also reduces the number of cilia in the lungs, resulting in fewer cilia that do not properly clean the lungs.
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Additional health risks from smoking
cycle
Smoking can do a lot of damage to your circulatory system. Because the tar in cigarettes contains harmful chemicals, your blood can become infected with them when you smoke. When these poisons enter your bloodstream:
- When your blood becomes thicker, your risk of blood clots increases.
- Your blood pressure and heart rate increase, causing your heart to work harder.
- Your arteries become thinner, which reduces the amount of oxygen-carrying blood that circulates to your organs.
brain
Smoking is also pretty bad for your brain. Smokers are 50% more likely to have a stroke than non-smokers. As a result, smokers are twice as likely to die from a stroke.
Stomach
Your digestive system, especially your stomach, can be severely affected by smoking. Smoking weakens the esophagus, allowing stomach acid to pass in the wrong direction. This process is called reflow.
skin
Although few people know, smoking reduces the amount of oxygen your skin absorbs. In other words, smoking can cause skin to age 10 to 20 years faster. Facial wrinkles are likely to appear around the eyes and mouth.
How quitting smoking can benefit your health
When you smoke, your chances of developing health problems are greater.
Breathing-Related Health Problems Caused by Smoking
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asthma
asthmaIt is a chronic airway disease. People with asthma experience shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness and coughing.
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colds and lung infections
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flu and pneumonia
Smoking leads to increased death tollinfluenzaand pneumonia. Deaths from flu and pneumonia have also fallen as smoking has declined.
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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) blocks air from moving in and out of the lungs. This is a major reason for America.
When you smoke, yourRisk of dying from COPDyesmore than 10 timescompared to not smoking.
COPD includes two diseases:chronic bronchitisandemphysema。
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lung cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. reasons for smoking85% of lung cancer cases。
Smokers have more airway precancerous lesions than non-smokers.
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How secondhand smoke affects your lungs
When people smoke, they pollute the air around them. This secondhand smoke has two sources:
- The burning end of a cigarette.
- When a smoker exhales smoke.
Researchers studied adult non-smokers who inhaled cigarette smoke in the workplace, and the results showed that the lungs of these adults were damaged.
when you inhale secondhand smoke, you may have health problems such as:
- respite.
- Chronic cough.
- Increased mucus.
- Shortness of breath.
- Difficulty controlling asthma.
- More lung infections and pneumonia.
- lung cancer.
In the United States, there are approximately3,000 people died from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke。
Stay away from secondhand smoke.
Get Help to Quit Smoking
UPMC offers a smoking cessation program to help people quit smoking. For help or to learn more about our smoking cessation programs, please callUPMC Referral Serviceexist1-800-533-UPMC (8762)。
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on, last reviewed on。
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