Cigarette Smoke Damage

Although most smokers are aware of the harmful effects of smoking, this may not be enough to overcome the reasons why they are smoking. A careful review of these reasons may help them come to the conclusion that it is time to quit.

How many people look back at the end of their lives and think "I'm sure glad I was a smoker" or "I really regret giving up smoking"? Now is the time to begin taking action and getting the help necessary to break this habit. You'll be glad you did.

Please note that it is extremely important to obtain an accurate diagnosis before trying to find a cure. Many diseases and conditions share common symptoms: if you treat yourself for the wrong illness or a specific symptom of a complex disease, you may delay legitimate treatment of a serious underlying problem. In other words, the greatest danger in self-treatment may be self-diagnosis. If you do not know what you really have, you can not treat it!

Knowing how difficult it is to weed out misinformation and piece together countless facts in order to see the "big picture", we now provide simple online access to The Analyst™. Used by doctors and patients alike, The Analyst™ is a computerized diagnostic tool that sits on a vast accumulation of knowledge and research. By combining thousands of connections between signs, symptoms, risk factors, conditions and treatments, The Analyst™ will help to build an accurate picture of your current health status, the risks you are running and courses of action (including appropriate lab testing) that should be considered. Full information is available here.


Smoking is associated with significantly increased overall morbidity and mortality. This was recognized early in the era of industrialized cigarette production and mass use. In the 1950s there were already reports linking cigarette smoking with the fast rise in the rate of lung cancer. Today, knowledge of the negative health consequences of smoking is widely recognized, but smoking still remains the number one cause of preventable death in developed countries.

Tobacco smoke is a dangerous substance with more than 500 known cancer-causing chemicals. Every time a smoker lights up he or she is being injured to some degree by inhaling these poisons.

Incidence
Lung cancer is presently the number one killer in both men and women; in the year 2000 some 300,000 people died from lung cancer in the United States alone.

Facts:
Among smokers aged 35 to 69, smoking accounts for a threefold increase in the death rate.
Approximately half of all regular smokers that begin smoking during adolescence will be killed by tobacco (WHO).
In 1985 it was estimated that more than one in every six deaths in the USA was the result of smoking.
Smokers have more acute and chronic illnesses than those who have never smoked, more bed-ridden days, and more days missed from school and work.
Smokers make greater use of inpatient and outpatient hospital services and lower use of preventive care services.
Of all cancer deaths in the US, 30% could be prevented if cigarette smoking were eliminated.