Smoking, prime factor in heart disease

17 Sep 2009

While it is commendable that stricter legislation on smoking have been implemented, it remains to be seen how much of an impact they would have on smoking prevalence. There are about 6,8 million adult South Africans (1 in 3) who smoke cigarettes and according to the South African Medical Journal, smoking causes between 42,000 and 46,000 deaths in SA per year.

Smoking is a prime factor in heart disease and stroke. With Heart Awareness Month during September, people are encouraged to proactively take steps to maintain a healthy heart. Quitting smoking is one of the best ways to reduce one's risk of heart disease.

Pamela Warrington of the Heart & Stroke Foundation SA (HSFSA) explains, “smoking triples the risk of heart disease and within 24 hours of quitting your risk of heart attack or stroke starts to decrease. Within 5 - 15 years, the risk of heart disease is the same as a non-smoker.”

A study conducted in Pueblo, Colorado by the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed a drop in hospital admissions for heart attacks over the three years since the laws prohibiting smoking in public places was implemented in July 2003. The study found there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo in the 18 months before the city's smoke-free ordinance took effect on 1 July 2003, compared to 237 heart attack hospitalisations in the similar period from 18 months to three years after this date - a decline of 41%.

Vanessa Sew Chung Hong, brand manager of nicorette says, “We know that quitting smoking is a daunting task and that you cannot apply a one-size-fits-all approach to quitting. Our recent research findings from the nicorette SA Smoking survey revealed that about 80% of smokers wanted to quit because they realised that smoking was affecting their health”.