SARASOTA – More than 480,000 adults die in the U.S. each year from smoking-related cardiovascular diseases, according to the American Heart Association.
People who smoke cigarettes are 1.8 times more likely to die from a fatal heart attack, stroke or heart failure that occurs without any warning signs, according to a study published in the journal of the American Heart Association.
“Smoking causes a development of plaque in the arteries and those arteries could be the arteries of the heart, the arteries of the neck, extremity arteries and arteries of the abdomen, this buildup of plaque then cause an issue with the development of stroke and arteries of the brain or the neck or heart attack with arteries of the heart,” said Cardiologist at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Edmund Bermudez.
Dr. Bermudez says smoking at a young age is particularly harmful, because the longer you smoke, the amount that you smoke and the duration you smoke has everything to do with the complications related to smoking.
“It’s sometimes very difficult for patients to quit smoking once they have started because of the nature of the nicotine, any way that it can get into your body, such as vaping, tobacco, chewing, all of these things, increase your risk, so any form of that is not good for you,” said Dr. Bermudez.
Although, Tobacco Free Florida has seen steady decline in youth smoking rates, 12.8 percent of youth report using e-cigarettes
“The aerosol in cigarettes contains harmful chemicals, some of them cancer causing and heavy metals like nickel and tin, we also know that e-cigarette use affects the lungs, especially with the COVID pandemic, we’ve learned how important our lung health is in addition to our heart,” said Bureau Chief for Tobacco Free Florida, Laura Corbin.
Quitting smoking is high on the list of things you can do to reduce your heart risk but it’s not the only thing. Exercising and eating healthy are vital factors that improve heart health.
“We all have some control over, by doing the things we do every day, keeping yourself moving, keeping your body doing things, getting 30 minutes of activity every day and some good food in your nutrition makes a difference in your overall health,” said Dr. Bermudez.
Not just smokers are at risk. An estimated 46,000 nonsmokers die each year from Coronary Heart Disease due to exposure to secondhand smoke.