Posted on 10/17/2006 1:09:34 PM PDT by trumandogz
TUESDAY, Oct. 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that at least 1 in every 4 smokers will develop progressive and incurable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a much higher risk than previously believed.
COPD is a respiratory disease that results in blocked air flow to the lungs and grows progressively worse.
For this study, published online in the journal Thorax, researchers at Hvidovre Hospital analyzed data on 8,000 men and women, ages 30 to 60. All were monitored for 25 years as part of the Copenhagen City Heart Study.
At the start of the study, all the participants' lungs were healthy and working normally. However, over the course of the 25 years, the lungs of almost all the male non-smokers continued to function normally, compared to 60 percent of men who continued to smoke.
Among women, 90 percent of non-smokers still had healthy lungs at the end of 25 years, compared to 70 percent of smokers.
Overall, 25 percent of the participants developed moderate or severe COPD over the 25 years. Persistent smokers were six times more likely to develop COPD than non-smokers.
During the 25 years, there were 2,900 deaths in the study group. Of those deaths, 109 were directly attributable to COPD, and nearly all those deaths were in people who were active smokers at the start of the study. Only two non-smokers died of COPD.
The study also found a sharp decline in the risk of COPD among people who stopped smoking soon after the start of the study. Over the 25 years, none of these ex-smokers developed severe COPD.
I only subscribe for the pictures.
While I sat on my front porch drinking a beer and having a smoke, I watched a neighbor jog out of the neighborhood. He led the 'healthiest' possible lifestyle. He got hit by a bus and died that night. I'm still alive. And happy.
So 25% get COPD and out of that 25% how many die from it?
Reread the article.
Isn't Thorax a character on "Space Ghost - Coast to Coast" on the Cartoon Network? LOL
If people would take better care of their health, maybe those of us who do wouldn't have to subsidize those would constantly go to the doctor for avoidable problems driving up our insurance rates.
Then again, better to raise your fist in defiance claiming smoking is just fine.
Except they've been paying more taxes than anyone else via the extra taxes placed on cigarettes.
So does a smoker who doesn't develop lung disease or lung cancer get a rebate when they're 80 or 90?
I am betting that prior to post 50 someone will claim that smoking has positive effects on your lungs and your overall health.
All the defenders of smoking will make snide comments here and I too take studies like these with a grain of salt.
Having said that though...
COPD is a horrible way to die. I watched my mother-in-law die from it, drowning in her own fluids and it wasn't pretty.
Yes, she was a life long smoker.
Just to help you win, trumandogz...
http://www.forces.org/evidence/evid/therap.htm
Smoking is good for you. It increases lung power and let's you live longer and a more enjoyable life. Plus it's cool and it gets the babes.
"I am betting that prior to post 50 someone will claim that smoking has positive effects on your lungs and your overall health."
How much on that bet? I challenge you to find a serious post where someone really believes that.
See 32!
36% of all the subjects died; 1.25% of all died of COPD; at the end of 25 years, the survivors ranged from 55 to 85 years of age; short of knowing what the rest died of and at what age death occurred, COPD would seem to be the least of their worries.
For the non-smokers, it probably does.
Already been done - in 1937:
everyone who gets cancer has eaten carrots.
_________
100% of orange juice drinkers die.
95% of men engage in, uh, acts of self pleasure
the other 5% lie.
3/4 of smokers will not get COPD. Instead, they'll get lung cancer, emphysema, smoking-related heart disease or stroke, breast cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, or any one of dozens of other ailments that have been conclusively linked to smoking.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.