Smoking accounts for 85-90 percent of emphysema mortality in America. Once a disease that affected exclusively men, one in four emphysema deaths now occurs among women. Lung cancer, already the number one cause of cancer mortality in American men, in 1986 surpassed breast cancer as the leading cancer of American women. Smokers who have a heart attack have less chance for survival than a person who does not smoke. And by continuing to smoke after a heart attack, the person s chance for a second attack increases.
Smoking is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease.
This disease is a narrowing of blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles. If a blood clot blocks an already narrowed artery, then the result could be the damage or even the loss of an arm or leg. American Lung Association.