Yes! Smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke can lead to stroke
Date:2016-10-29 14:53:23 Clicks:1132 【Font Size:
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Stroke – or acute cerebrovascular event – is often referred to as the brain equivalent of a heart attack. It occurs when there is a blockage in brain blood vessels (ischaemic stroke) or when a blood vessel ruptures in the brain (haemorragic stroke).
Globally, stroke is the second leading cause of death, and the sixth most common cause of disability. About 15 million people suffer from first-ever stroke every year, with a third of these cases – or approximately 6.6 million – resulting in death (3.5 million women and 3.1 million men). In China, stroke is the number one leading cause of death in the recent past decades. If no action is taken to help prevent stroke, there will be nearly 32 million people suffering from stroke by 2030 in China alone. Stroke survivors are often left with permanent moderate to severe disabilities such as loss of vision, speech or paralysis and many require significant assistance to complete the activities of daily life, a task that usually falls to unpaid family caregivers.
Many of us have probably heard about the links between tobacco use and lung cancer, but did you know that tobacco use is also a major avoidable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases? A far greater number of smokers develop heart disease or stroke than develop lung cancer, and smoking may double the risk of stroke. Globally, two fifths of all stroke deaths under the age of 65 are linked to smoking. In China, smoking is ranked as the number one risk factor of stroke among males, followed by dyslipidaemia (abnormal amount of lipids, or fats, in the blood) and hypertension.
Exposure to second-hand smoke and use of smokeless tobacco also increase the risk of stroke.With this in mind, reducing exposure to tobacco smoke is a key area of action which governments can take through creating smoke-free environments as outlined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). This is why it is critically important for China to have a comprehensive smoke-free law in place in order to help reduce these entirely preventable deaths.
At an individual level, given that quitting tobacco use has a clear and profound effect on reducing the risk of stroke, encouraging and supporting current tobacco users to quit should be a top priority. Four to five years after quitting smoking, a former smoker’s risk of stroke is almost identical to that of a lifetime non-smoker.
Click “Read more” and learn more about tobacco and stroke.