Cigs cause ‘millions’ of heart attacks

WHILE the link between smoking and a range of cancers is well known, the World Health Organization warned on Thursday there was too little awareness of tobacco’s impact on the human heart.

On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on Thursday, the UN cautioned research showed there was “a serious lack of knowledge” about the different health risks associated with tobacco. Tobacco use has been linked to over seven million deaths worldwide each year, including some 890,000 from breathing in second-hand smoke.

But many are unaware nearly half of those deaths, around three million, are due to cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and stroke, the WHO warned.

“Most people know that using tobacco causes cancer and lung disease, but many people aren’t aware tobacco also causes heart disease and stroke – the world’s leading killers,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Tobacco smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, including tar and others that can narrow arteries and damage blood vessels, and nicotine, which is associated with increases in heart rate and blood pressure. At the same time, smoking unleashes poisonous gases like carbon monoxide, which replaces oxygen in the blood, thereby reducing the availability of oxygen for the heart muscle, the WHO said.

The agency pointed out that tobacco use is responsible for around 17 percent of the nearly 18 million deaths from cardiovascular disease around the globe each year.