2017 Volume 68 Issue 5 Pages 334-338
Non-malignant diseases induced by smoking are, like malignant diseases, a serious issue. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a representative respiratory disease induced, like lung cancer, by tobacco usage. It shows slow progressive development with irreversible airway obstruction, leading to respiratory failure. Not to smoke is the only way to prevent COPD. If a patient with COPD quits smoking, progression of the disease will slow but inflammation is presumed to continue. In the case of asthma, smoking is known to be a factor that causes the disease to worsen. Also, passive smoking attributed to parents smoking has a significant influence on the incidence of asthma in children. Because of nicotine addiction, many patients keep smoking even knowing that it is harmful to the lungs. Many non-malignant diseases such as interstitial pneumonia and respiratory infection, and not only malignant diseases, are closely related to smoking.
