Smoking and its Consequences

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Though smoking is considered to be a minor vice compared to other bad habits, it is nevertheless deadly and may lead to other addictions too. Smoking is the process of inhaling fumes from a burning substance like tobacco. Smoking has always been referred to as the single most important preventable cause of premature death.

Smoking is divided into two types – active smoking, which is actively smoking oneself and passive smoking which is inhaling smoke due to proximity to a smoker. Majority of the male smokers start smoking as teenagers. 9% of boys and 6% of girls among teenagers in India are known to smoke. Smokeless tobacco is now known to be a major cause of oral disease and death from oral cancer.

The primary cause of death related to cigarette smoking is Coronary heart disease specially heart attack. This is basically due to atherosclerosis, which is the deposition of lipids, a type of fat and fibrous tissue in the walls of the arteries which is mainly caused by smoking.

Lung cancer is the next disease which is closely related to smoking. The relative risk of developing lung cancer is highly alleviated by smoking. The risk of mortality is dose dependant. The greater the number of cigarettes smoked the greater are the chances of contracting this disease. Not only are closely related but also other cancers like cancer of mouth, pharynx, food pipe or esophagus, urinary bladder and cancer of pancreas are attributed to smoking.

Quitting smoking is the most effective and the only way to get rid of all the smoking related diseases.