Every year, on May 31, the world observes World No Tobacco Day, aimed at raising awareness about the perils of tobacco consumption. This year’s theme is ‘Tobacco is killing us and our planet.’
Tobacco smoke, containing harmful substances such as benzopyrene, lead, carbon monoxide, arsenic, and formaldehyde, poses severe health risks. While many individuals abstain from smoking, they still find themselves exposed to passive smoking. Although passive smoking is commonly linked to lung cancer, Dr. Pankaj Batra, Senior Consultant in Cardiology at Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad, emphasizes its higher likelihood of causing heart disease or stroke.
Passive smoking involves the involuntary inhalation of smoke from cigarettes or other tobacco products used by others. This definition encompasses exposure to both secondhand and thirdhand smoke, including in-utero exposure of a fetus due to tobacco toxins in the mother’s blood. Secondhand smoke is a combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the exhaled smoke from smokers, containing over 7,000 chemicals.
Referring to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Batra notes, “Secondhand smoke is believed to cause 34,000 deaths from heart disease and 8,000 deaths from strokes in non-smokers in the United States each year, with even higher numbers reported by the World Health Organization.”
Dr. Batra underscores the alarming rise in heart ailments attributed to passive smoking, revealing that it elevates the risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and the risk of stroke by 20 to 30 percent. Moreover, the risk of peripheral arterial disease also increases. Individuals exposed to passive smoking are 15 times more likely to die from heart disease than from lung cancer.
While everyone faces risks from passive smoking, those with pre-existing heart disease are more susceptible to adverse effects and should take special precautions to avoid even brief exposures. Dr. Batra emphasizes, “Even exposures of less than 30 minutes can cause detectable changes in blood vessels associated with heart disease, underscoring that no level of exposure is safe.”
