Five cigarettes a day are enough to affect long-term lung health, according to a new study. Light smokers also have an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The harmful effects of tobacco on the lungs have been known to all for a long time. But heavy smokers aren’t the only ones at risk. According to a recent study published on October 9 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, five cigarettes a day would be enough to affect long-term lung health. Light smokers also have a greatly increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
To reach this conclusion, researchers from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in the United States followed 25,352 participants aged 17 to 93, smokers, former smokers or who had never smoked in their lives and have tests to measure their lung function.
They were thus able to observe that those of light smokers declined at a rate much closer to that of heavy smokers than that of people who had never smoked. In detail, light smokers could lose about the same rate of lung function in one year as heavy smokers in nine months.
“Anatomical differences in the lung that persist years after smoking cessation”
Another disturbing finding: while the lung capacity of ex-smokers declined less rapidly than those who still smoked, the rate of decline did not normalize for at least 30 years.
These results are consistent with those of many other studies, say the researchers. “There are anatomical differences in the lung that persist for years after smoking cessation and gene activity remains altered,” says Elizabeth Oelsner who led the research.
“Many people assume that smoking a few cigarettes a day isn’t so bad. But the difference in lung function loss between people who smoke five cigarettes a day versus two packs a day is relatively small,” continues -she.
An increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Also, “smoking only a few cigarettes a day is much riskier than you think,” she warns. “Everyone should be strongly encouraged to quit smoking, no matter how many cigarettes they smoke,” she insists.
Although it is normal for lung capacity to decline with age, as soon as you reach your twenties, smoking accelerates this decline, say the researchers. Smokers are therefore more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This disease, which is characterized by a persistent decrease in the flow of inspired gases, is diagnosed when the pulmonary functions drop below a certain threshold.
And according to this study, people who smoke lightly have a much higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than previously thought. “It would probably be necessary to expand our notions of who is affected by this risk,” says Oelsner. And to conclude: “In the future, if we find therapies that reduce the risk of COPD, all people with an increased risk should benefit”.
A currently incurable disease
In France, where 11.5 million people smoked daily in 2018, nearly three million people are affected by this disease. According to WHO, symptoms progressively worsen with shortness of breath on exertion even at rest. The disease “tends to be underdiagnosed and can be life-threatening”, warns the organization.
It is currently incurable and the treatments offered to relieve the pain or slow its progression are often insufficient. This is why an American company called Nuvaira has developed a new non-drug process that she wishes to test, among others, in the pulmonology department of the Toulouse University Hospital in France. The latter began at least September an international trial following former tobacco users with the disease.
“The principle of this new therapy consists in introducing a probe via a video-endoscope through the patient’s mouth and performing radiofrequency thermolysis (destruction by heat) in both lungs. The objective is to destroy approximately 50% of the bronchial nerves which control in particular the contraction of the bronchial muscles, abnormal in COPD”, explains the hospital on its website.
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