Key points on stroke and smoking:

Smoking is the second leading cause of cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease, after high blood pressure.  #protectournext encourages all South Africans to avoid smoking or the use of other tobacco products and to protect themselves and their families from exposure to second-hand smoke, or passive smoking.

Smoking makes you twice as likely to die if you have a stroke, and the more you smoke, the greater your risk of stroke. If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, you are six times more likely to have a stroke compared to a non-smoker.

Your risk of stroke decreases after you stop smoking. In some studies, the risk of stroke in ex-smokers becomes similar to people who have never smoked after five to ten years. Importantly, stopping smoking reduces the risk of stroke in people with high blood pressure.

Chemicals from smoke affect your blood, making it thicker, stickier and more likely to form clots. They cause fatty material (plaque) to build up on your blood vessel walls faster. This process starts early and can be seen in smokers in their teens and early twenties. 

Smoking reduces the levels of ‘good’ cholesterol (also called HDL) in your blood stream and increases levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol (also called LDL). Having low levels of ‘good’ cholesterol in your body increases your risk of stroke. 

When you inhale cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide and nicotine enter your blood -  reducing the amount of oxygen, making your heart beat faster, and raising blood pressure. This increases your stroke risk. 

The chemicals in smoke make your platelets, a type of blood cell, more likely to stick together. This increases the chance of a clot forming – causing stroke. 

Tobacco smoke contains over 7,000 toxic chemicals which change and damage cells all around your body. The changes that these chemicals cause can increase your risk of stroke. 

Women who smoke and use oral contraception are almost four times more likely to have a stroke than women who use neither. This risk increases with age. 

Breathing in someone else’s smoke is hazardous. Children are particularly vulnerable to passive smoking as they have less well-developed airways, lungs and immune systems. 

Smoking is a controllable risk factor for stroke – a factor that people have the power to change! By stopping, you are greatly reducing the risks you are posing to your family, friends and people around you.

When you quit..

• Within one day the level of carbon monoxide in your blood drops back to normal.
• After eight weeks your level of good cholesterol has improved. This helps slow down the build-up of fatty deposits on your artery walls.
• Within three months your blood is less thick and sticky, and your blood flow will improve.
• Within two to five years, there is a large drop in your risk of heart attack and stroke.
  After fifteen years your risk of heart disease and stroke is close to that of a person who has never smoked.

Facebook:@protectournext

Website: www.protectournext.co.za

Available for interview:

Dr Catherine Egbe, Specialist Scientist: Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council

Dr Sharon Nyatsanza, Project and Communications Manager, NCAS

Professor Pamela Naidoo, CEO, The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa
Lorraine Govender, National Advocacy Co-Ordinator, CANSA

Media contact:

Tamaryn Brown

Connect Media for CART agency

tamaryn@connectmedia.co.za

+ 27 (0) 84 3510560