WHAT IS THE WORST EFFECT OF CIGARETTE SMOKING?
Considering the number of people affected, the worst effect of smoking is not lung cancer, bronchitis, or emphysema. It is coronary artery heart disease (CHD), a disease involving the vessels (coronary arteries) supplying blood to the heart. Smoking is one of three major Independent risk factors for CHD; the others are high blood pressure and elevated serum cholesterol. The risk of CHD increases both with the number of cigarettes smoked and with the presence of other risk factors. Hardening of these arteries (coronary arteriosclerosis) and resultant heart attacks (coronary thrombosis) killed over 640,000 Americans in 1978. Through careful statistical analysis of patients who smoke and patients who get heart disease, it has been concluded that about 25 percent of these deaths would have not occurred if patients had not smoked cigarettes. Over 160,000 of these deaths were directly attributable to cigarette smoking. HOW MANY DEATHS FROM LUNG CANCER, BRONCHITIS AND EMPHYSEMA ARE ATTRIBUTAB
