Thus, in some individuals, poor lung function may not be recognised as a limiting factor for activities of daily life, because musculoskeletal problems or bruising may set the limits. The following text cannot and should not replace the patient's physician. Individuals with normal lungs exposed to tobacco smoke risk lung injury and serious diseases, e.g. cancers, obstructive lung diseases and cardiovascular diseases. The use of tobacco may particularly be hazardous to people with EDS, because the combination of the deleterious effects of tobacco smoke and the fragile connective tissue may cause increased risk of severe diseases and troublesome prolapses. Smokers with EDS, smoking family-members and relatives should be strongly encouraged to stop smoking.
Some individuals experience many episodes of haemoptysis.
EDS patients experiencing haemoptysis should be examined by a physician to identify diagnoses that need treatment. Haemoptysis may be a result of general friability of the mucosa even in the absence of bleeding disorder. Structural abnormalities visible by X-ray are usually absent. Vascular malformations . This is extremely rare and is caused by the rupture of a vessel.