AZERBAİJAN MEDİCAL UNİVERSİTY

FREELANCE WORK

Faculty: Community Medicine

Course: 1

Group: 322R1A

Student: Arzu Ahmadova

Subject: English

Theme: Effect of Smoking on the Lungs

Baku-2023
 Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body. More than
16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies
because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness. Smoking causes
cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for
tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid
arthritis. Secondhand smoke exposure contributes to approximately 41,000 deaths among
nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year. Secondhand smoke causes stroke, lung
cancer, and coronary heart disease in adults. Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at
increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease,
more severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and slowed lung growth.

Every organ in the human body serves an important purpose in keeping it running and in
prime condition. Most healthy people are not cognizant of their organs—like lungs—on a daily
basis, because they are able to breathe without difficulty and perform their daily tasks without major
effort. But damage to these vital organs can cause serious disease, and sometimes death. Cigarettes
can harm the tissue of the lungs, impeding their ability to function properly, and can increase the
risk for conditions such as emphysema, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD). The primary function of your lungs is to deliver oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your
body from the air you breathe in and expel carbon dioxide as waste when you exhale. While no
tobacco product is safe, combustible products—or those you must light on fire to use, like cigarettes
—are especially damaging to the lungs.

Cigarette smoking can cause immediate damage to your health. Each puff of cigarette smoke
contains a mix of over 7,000 chemicals. When you breathe this in, the smoke hits your lungs very
quickly, and the blood that is then carried to the rest of your body contains these toxic chemicals.
Because tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide, this deadly gas displaces the oxygen in your
blood, depriving your organs of the oxygen they need. Other chemicals found in cigarette smoke
include acrolein, which can cause irreversible lung damage, and even in low amounts, it can cause a
sore throat in 10 minutes. Cigarettes may also contain bronchodilators, or chemicals that are meant
to open up the airways of the lungs and could increase the amount of dangerous chemicals absorbed
by the lungs. Cigarette smoking can have major consequences on the lungs at all ages. Babies
whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may have lungs that develop abnormally, and teens who
smoke cigarettes can develop smaller, weaker lungs that never grow to full size and never perform
at their peak capacity.
 In addition, smoking can destroy the cilia—or tiny hairs in your airway that keep dirt and
mucus out of your lungs. When these cilia are destroyed, you develop what is known as “smoker’s
cough,” a chronic cough that is often seen in long-term or daily smokers. Lung damage due to
smoking does not end there. 8 out of 10 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (or COPD)
are caused by smoking. People with COPD experience difficulty breathing and eventually die
because of a lack of air. There is no cure for COPD. Furthermore, nearly all lung cancer—the top
cause of cancer death in both men and women— is caused by smoking, and smokers are 20 times
more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers. In addition to lung cancer, smoking can lead to
other respiratory cancers, such as:

 The oropharynx (the back of the mouth, including parts of the tongue, the soft palate, the side
and back of the throat, and the tonsils)
 Larynx (the “voice box”)
 Trachea (the “windpipe”)
 Bronchus (one of two large airways that connect the trachea to the lungs)

While cigarettes—given their high rate of use, addictive nature, and toxic mix of chemicals—are
the most dangerous tobacco product, any tobacco product you inhale could cause lung damage.
Cigar smoking can increase the risk of COPD, and lead to cancers of the lung, oral cavity, and
larynx, among other cancers. Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), like e-cigarettes, are
still relatively new tobacco products and are still being evaluated for their impacts on health.

But e-cigarette use—or “vaping”—may be harmful to your lungs. Some e-cigarette aerosols
have been found to contain some of the same chemicals in cigarettes, including the lung irritant
acrolein, and formaldehyde, which may adversely affect the throat. Flavoring chemicals are
considered safe for eating, but could be harmful when inhaled. Buttery flavors like caramel, toffee,
and chocolate contain the chemicals diacetyl and acetoin, which can be harmful to your lungs.
Additionally, fruit flavored e-cigarettes can have higher concentrations of a chemical called
acrylonitrile, which is a known respiratory irritant.

Your lungs are one of your body’s filtration systems, taking in air from the atmosphere, adding
oxygen to the blood for circulation throughout the body, and expelling excess carbon dioxide. When
tobacco is inhaled, it interferes with this delicate balance. The best way to ensure lung health is to
never start using tobacco, but if you are an addicted smoker, the sooner you quit, the sooner your
lungs can begin to heal.
 Quitting smoking can lower the risk of getting cancer. In fact, when you quit smoking, your risk
of:

 Cancer of the larynx is reduced immediately;

 Lung cancer drops by 50 percent 10 years after quitting;
 Mouth and throat cancers drop by 50% five years after quitting.

Anyone who quits smoking will experience better overall health. Just 12 hours after quitting, the
carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal, allowing more oxygen to circulate to your
organs.