“cough, cough…”
Lao Liu started to puff again early in the morning, but he coughed non-stop as soon as he smoked.
“Stop smoking, you’ve already coughed like this, beware of lung cancer.” Son Xiao Liu was very distressed when he heard Lao Liu’s heart-rending cough, and quickly persuaded him to quit smoking.
“I’ve been smoking for 30 years, and my lungs are used to it.” Lao Liu said indifferently, “Besides, the longer you smoke, the higher your lungs’ tolerance of being exercised, and the less likely they are to be exercised. It’s easy to get cancer.”
Listening to Lao Liu’s statement that the jar was broken, Xiao Liu couldn’t persuade him, so he had to let him go.
There are currently 330 million smokers in China, and according to the latest data, a total of 828,000 people in China suffered from lung cancer in 2016. Smokers do not suffer from lung cancer, but is it true that the more you smoke, the less likely you will get cancer?
I. People who smoke more are less likely to get lung cancer? real or fake?
Recently, a new study was published in the sub-journal of Nature, led by a research team at the Eisden School of Medicine in the United States, and there was a very interesting discovery.
The researchers divided the participants into two groups, one was never smokers, a total of 14 people, aged 11-83, Another group was smokers, with a total of 19 people aged 44-81. The researchers analyzed and compared the DNA mutations of normal lung epithelial cells in the two groups through single-cell assay technology.
The results found:
1. Smokers are more likely to develop cancer, no doubt
14 out of 19 smokers Lung cancer was diagnosed in only 1 in 14 never-smokers.
The study found that the number of DNA mutations in lung epithelial cells will increase linearly with the number of smoking packs and years, that is to say, the risk of cancer will increase with the amount of smoking.
2. Some of the most aggressive heavy smokers have suppressed cancer risk instead
Among the smokers, the maximum smoking volume is 116 packs · Years (1 pack · year = number of packs smoked per day x years of smoking, e.g. 2 packs of cigarettes per day for 20 years).
The results of the study show that when the number of pack-years of smoking reaches 23, the upward trend of DNA mutations in lung epithelial cells will level off, resulting in no corresponding cancer risk in people who smoke more. Increase to maximum. The researchers explained that this may be because these smokers have a more powerful DNA damage repair system in the body, which repairs the DNA mutations caused by heavy smoking.
Then the question is, is it necessary to “fight poison” by smoking more cigarettes to prevent lung cancer?
Professor Xiao Dan from China-Japan Friendship Hospital said that smoking cessation can help reduce the risk of lung cancer, and the longer you quit smoking, the greater the risk reduction. The incidence and death of lung cancer in my country are the highest among all cancers. The number of lung cancer deaths caused by smoking is as high as 251,000, accounting for about 42.7% of the total. No one can guarantee that you will be the lucky one who smokes for a lifetime, so don’t take chances.
2. After 30 years of smoking, is it a good or bad thing to quit smoking now?
Lungs that have been smoking for thirty years are actually scarred.
Professor Chen Jingyu, the “First Lung Transplanter in China” once shared the case of a lung donor who had been smoking for nearly 30 years. During the transplant operation, the lung he encountered was covered with black plaques, with mild emphysema, bullae and tuberculosis calcification in the pneumoconiosis. No one dared to use it if he wanted to donate the lung. .
(Photo source: Chen Jingyu’s heartfelt words)
Quitting smoking has only advantages and no disadvantages, and quitting smoking at all ages has benefits.
Smokers lose about 10 years of life expectancy on average compared to non-smokers; quitting smoking at age 30, 40, 50, and 60 can gain about 10 years of life expectancy, respectively years, 9 years, 6 years and 3 years.
Abstaining from smoking before the age of 35 can prevent 90% of heart disease caused by smoking; quitting before the age of 59 reduces the mortality rate by 50% within 15 years compared with those who continue to smoke; Even if it is 60 People who quit smoking after the age of 12 have a significantly lower lung cancer mortality rate than those who continue to smoke.
Three, smokers who have these symptoms, please quit smoking immediately
Smoking is one of the main risk factors for lung cancer. If you have the following symptoms, you must attach great importance to it, be alert to the possibility of lung cancer, quit smoking immediately, and go to the hospital for examination and treatment as soon as possible.
1. Cough
Dry cough is a common symptom of lung cancer. If you have a long-term dry cough that does not improve after drug treatment, you should be alert to the possibility of lung cancer, especially for people aged 45-65 in the high-incidence period of lung cancer. If you have a chronic cough, you should also be vigilant once you find that the nature of the cough is different from usual.
2. Coughing up blood
Coughing up blood is a common symptom of central lung cancer.See symptoms, the reason is that the surface of the tumor is rich in blood vessels, when the cough damages the surface layer, it will cause the blood vessels to rupture, resulting in the phenomenon of hemoptysis. Lung cancer hemoptysis is characterized by repeated hemoptysis often, or hemoptysis only lasting for a longer period of time, or occasionally more hemoptysis.
3. Chest tightness and shortness of breath
When the tumor blocks the bronchial tube and causes the lung to shrink and the lung capacity to decrease, it will cause chest tightness and shortness of breath, and Often accompanied by an irregular dull or dull chest pain, and sometimes a stretch in the back.
4. Hoarseness
About 20%-30% of lung cancer patients have hoarseness, which can appear in lung cancer, including early At different times, this is mainly because the tumor invades and compresses the nerves that innervate the vocal cords. Hoarseness in lung cancer often occurs suddenly and progresses rapidly, with some patients losing their voice completely. If the voice is hoarse, after more than 2 weeks of rest and anti-inflammatory treatment have improved ineffective, it is highly suspected of lung cancer.
5. Shoulder pain
If the tumor is located in the upper lung, it is easy to compress the nerve and cause the symptoms of shoulder pain. If shoulder pain occurs, after acupuncture, massage and other treatments, the relief is not obvious, so be alert to lung cancer, and go to the hospital for lung CT examination in time.
Although some people smoke more than a certain level, the risk of lung cancer will not continue to increase, but it does not mean that the more you smoke, you will not get lung cancer. There is no doubt that smoking is harmful to health. If you want to reduce the harm of smoking to your body, you must quit smoking as soon as possible. There are benefits to quitting smoking at any age, and the sooner you quit, the greater the benefits.
References:
[1]Huang Z, Sun S, Lee M, et al. Single-cell analysis of somatic mutations in human bronchial epithelial cells in relation to aging and smoking . Nat Genet. 2022, 54(4):492-498.
[2]No matter how old you are, quitting smoking is beneficial. Xinhuanet, 2020-09-04
[3 ] Hoarseness, fever and cough… 13 early signs of lung cancer, if identified, it will not escape sanctions. Popular Science China, 2019-10-22