Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/LU8Tc9SLo7Q Smoking as few as 5 cigarettes a day creates lung damage not all that different from heavier smoking.  This wake-up call comes from a Columbia University Study of more than 25,000 participants representing teens, the middle aged, and elders.   The natural lung functional decline with aging is accelerated by smoking.  That acceleration rate for light smokers puffing about one-quarter pack a day was two-thirds the rate for those smoking 1.5 packs a day.  Even quitting doesn’t clean the slate as former smokers show lung decline rates that are only 14% lower than those for current smokers.   Any cigarette smoking damages your lungs permanently. Never start or you will become a pulmonary cripple.   Elizabeth C Oelsner, Pallavi P Balte, Surya P Bhatt, Patricia A Cassano, David Couper, Aaron R Folsom, Neal D Freedman, David R Jacobs, Ravi Kalhan, Amanda R Mathew, Richard A Kronmal, Laura R Loehr, Stephanie J London, Anne B Newman, George T O'Connor, Joseph E Schwartz, Lewis J