Smoking Could Create Clogging Risk For Leg Arteries

American researchers said cigarette smokers have a sharply higher risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD).

According to the findings of a new study published in the ‘Journal of the American College of Cardiology,’ even if the smokers quit, that added risk for PAD could still last for decades.

Peripheral artery disease (also called peripheral arterial disease) is a common circulatory problem in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the limbs. When an individual develops PAD, the extremities of the fellow — usually the legs — don’t receive enough blood flow to keep up with demand and poor blood circulation can cause leg pain.

Similarly, PAD could result to poor wound healing among other symptoms. Most cases go undiagnosed and there is a lack of public awareness about the disorder, the researchers noted.

The study also showed that smoking increases the odds of developing PAD more than it raises the risk for heart disease and stroke.

Senior study author, Dr. Kunihiro Matsushita, who is an associate professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore in the United States (US), said:”Our results underscore the importance of both smoking prevention for nonsmokers and early smoking cessation for smokers.

“The study also suggests that campaigns about smoking’s health risks should emphasise the elevated risk of peripheral artery disease, not just coronary heart disease and stroke.”

The current study included more than 3,300 current smokers, nearly 4,200 former smokers and a few thousand people who never smoked. They were followed for a median of 26 years; half were followed for less time, half more.

Compared with people who never smoked, those who had smoked for more than 40 pack-years had a four times higher risk of PAD and roughly twice the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.

Pack-years is a measure of smoking. Ten pack-years can mean one pack per day for 10 years or two packs per day for five years or some other combination.

Compared to never-smokers, people who currently smoke more than a pack a day had 5.4 times the risk of PAD; 2.4 times the risk of coronary heart disease; and 1.9 times the risk of stroke.