On May 31st, World No Tobacco Day, the Alliance for Heart Disease Prevention (AHDP) is dedicating an issue of Tobacco’s Impact on the Heart for the benefit of our readers.The theme of China’s No Tobacco Day in 2016 is “Refuse the Harm of Tobacco”. However, many people only know that smoking can cause lung cancer and other tumors, but in fact, smoking is also closely related to heart disease. Doctors remind that the best way to avoid the harm of smoking to the heart is to stay away from cigarettes. “According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) China, there are 300 million smokers in China, nearly 53% of whom are men. Every year, 1 million people die from smoking-related diseases, accounting for 12% of all deaths. Smoking is the white plague of modern society, significantly increasing the chances of malignant tumors, respiratory diseases, strokes, and ischemic heart disease. The incidence of coronary heart disease among smokers and passive smokers is 3.5 times higher than that of non-smokers, the death rate is 6 times higher, and the incidence of myocardial infarction is 2-6 times higher. The incidence of myocardial infarction is 2-40 times higher. 30-40% of people who die of cardiovascular diseases are related to smoking. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4000 kinds of chemical substances, more than 250 kinds of toxic and harmful substances, of which more than 60 kinds of substances have carcinogenicity, nicotine is the main substance causing addiction. Secondhand smoke has higher concentrations of many carcinogenic and toxic chemicals compared to the smoke inhaled by the smoker himself. Nicotine, carbon monoxide, oxygen free radicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and butadiene in tobacco smoke are directly related to damage to the cardiovascular system. Smoking has “seven cardiovascular sins”! People will inhale a lot of nicotine when smoking, which contains toxic substances into the body will be on the cardiovascular, lipid and blood coagulation function and other effects, and then trigger hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, sudden cardiac death, coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases. “Overall, smoking on the cardiovascular has ‘seven major sins’, once the blood vessels become ‘black’, many problems will come uninvited.” First, contribute to the rise in blood pressure After smoking, due to the increased secretion of adrenaline and norepinephrine, can make the heart beat faster and blood pressure rise. Second, cause atherosclerosis As the saying goes, “people live with their arteries”, if the arteries have problems, the heart, brain, kidneys and other organs of the whole body will be affected, and once there is a blockage of the consequences are unimaginable, heart attack, brain infarction, kidney embolism, intestinal embolism will come one after another. Third, induce sudden death coronary heart disease patients smoking, may prompt the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation, which is the most important cause of sudden death. Fourth, lead to thromboembolic vasculitis The more you smoke, the more severe the vasculitis. Fifth, prompting the formation of blood clots, easy to lead to thrombosis Thrombosis can occur anywhere in the blood vessels, thrombus with the blood flow in the blood vessels, if the blockage is the coronary artery blood vessels of the heart, it will induce myocardial infarction. Sixth, reduce the body’s ability to sense the aura of heart disease Nicotine will inhibit the body’s normal sense of pain, affecting people’s heart disease “alarm” – angina pectoris perception, resulting in sudden infarction or even sudden death. Seventh, the impact of blood lipids, blood glucose There is a large amount of evidence that cardiovascular disease is the first diabetic “critical illness”, blood sugar damage is equal to the direct harm to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health. Smokers suffer from coronary heart disease risk increased three times! In addition, the impact of smoking on the heart is also reflected in the age of 30-49 years of age of male smokers, the incidence of coronary heart disease than non-smokers about three times higher, and smoking is also caused by angina attacks and sudden death of an important cause. Carbon monoxide produced during smoking reduces the ability of red blood cells to carry and transmit oxygen by about 20%, which leads to a series of cardiovascular system diseases. Smoking can also cause endothelial dysfunction, increase thrombosis, aggravate atherosclerosis and increase the risk of angina. Nicotine, or nicotine, can cause damage to the endothelium, vasoconstriction, increased blood pressure, heart rate, coronary artery spasm will induce angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. The risk of hypertension and coronary heart disease in long-term smokers is much higher than that of non-smokers. In addition, passive smoking also significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease.