The dangers of smoking are well known, but for some people it has a huge attraction and hatred is hard to give up. But tobacco, be sure to stay away. A recent study in the European Journal of Heart Disease Prevention suggests that the shorter the time between waking up and smoking the first cigarette, the higher the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, which is associated with genetic predisposition to atrial fibrillation.
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The earlier you smoke after waking up, the higher the risk of atrial fibrillation
Smoking is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation, but the relationship between smoking duration and risk of atrial fibrillation is unclear. The researchers included 300,000 participants from the United Kingdom Biobank database and had more than 10,000 cases of atrial fibrillation at a median follow-up of 12.2 years.
The study found that the time interval from waking up to smoking the first cigarette was negatively associated with the risk of developing atrial fibrillation compared to non-smokers. The risk of atrial fibrillation increased by 13%, 20%, 34%, 43%, and 49% in patients with intervals of more than 120 minutes, 61~120 minutes, 30~60 minutes, 5~15 minutes, and less than 5 minutes, respectively.
Previously, a large number of studies have found that smoking is one of the risk factors for atrial fibrillation. Analysis published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology showed that smokers were more likely than non-smokers to develop atrial fibrillation, a common arrhythmia. The results of the study showed that the more an individual smoked, the greater the risk of developing the disease, and that quitting smoking appeared to significantly reduce the risk of developing the disease. Specifically, people who smoked 10, 20, and 30 cigarettes per day had a 17%, 32%, and 45% increased their relative risk of atrial fibrillation compared to non-smokers. Study lead author Dagfin · Oné said: "Ex-smokers have a much lower risk of developing atrial fibrillation than smokers, which shows the importance of quitting smoking.
Zhao Na et al. from Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital analyzed the global disease burden of atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter and found that there are five major culprits of atrial fibrillation: hypertension, obesity, alcohol consumption, high salt and smoking.
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Smoking is very harmful to health
The health hazards of smoking can be described as "numerous crimes". A genetic study of nearly 900,000 people published in the European Heart Journal showed that smoking can lead to a variety of cardiovascular diseases, among which coronary heart disease, heart failure, abdominal aortic aneurysm, ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack, peripheral arterial disease, hypertension, etc.
A study published by the United States Cancer Society found that 40 percent of cancer and 44 percent of cancer deaths among United States residents 30 years of age and older were attributable to modifiable risk factors, including smoking, secondhand smoke, overweight/obesity, alcohol consumption, consumption of red and processed meat, inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables, inadequate intake of dietary fiber and calcium, lack of exercise, radiation, and infections. Among them, smoking was the most important risk factor, with 19.3% of cancer cases and 28.5% of cancer deaths attributable to smoking.
Recently, an analysis of China's prospective study of chronic diseases showed that smoking can increase the risk of 56 diseases in Chinese people, and contribute to the death of more than 1 million Chinese people from 22 different causes every year. Smoking increases the risk of not only heart and lung disease, but also peptic ulcers, cataracts, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases.
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There are health benefits to quitting smoking at any time
Smoking is also very harmful to Chinese people. According to the China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2023, in 2018, the China Adult Tobacco Survey showed that the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above in mainland China was 26.6%, with more than 300 million smokers and about 183.5 million smokers suffering from tobacco dependence. However, compared to 2010 and 2015, the results of the Chinese adult tobacco survey decreased by 1.55% and 1.13%, respectively.
According to the China Report on the Health Hazards of Smoking, tobacco kills more than 1 million people on the mainland every year, and if you don't quit smoking, it is expected to increase to 2 million per year by 2030 and 3 million per year by 2050.
Quitting smoking is so hard that a study of China's national smoking cessation cohort published in The Lancet showed that only 22% of smokers who were willing to quit successfully quit at 24 weeks after 3 months of treatment and 3 months of follow-up. But quitting smoking comes with huge health benefits.
A United States study found that quitting smoking at any age increased life expectancy, with young people living the most significant increase. People who quit smoking at age 35, 45, 55, 65 and 75 have an increase in life expectancy of 8.0 years, 5.6 years, 3.4 years, 1.7 years and 0.7 years compared to those who continue to smoke. People who quit smoking at age 65 and 75 will have a 23.4% and 14.2% chance of increasing their life expectancy by at least 1 year. Researchers emphasize that it is beneficial to quit smoking whenever it is. The benefits of quitting smoking are not limited to young adults who smoke, but also apply to older adults.
Of course, the sooner you quit smoking, the better. A prospective cohort study of more than 550,000 United States adults published in the Journal of the United States Medical Association showed that if smoking was quit before the age of 35, the risk of death could return to a similar level as that of a never-smoker.
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