Reminder to smokers: Your lungs are ageing

A normal lung and A smoker’s lung The use of tobacco is an habit that many find hard to stop because they did not appreciate the dangers associated with the habit. However, experts now say, if they understand that smoking makes their lungs to age faster, they may naturally stop, reports Sade Oguntola

You most likely have heard all the reasons to stop smoking - lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, shorter life expectancy - yet, it is a pleasure, a stress reliever or an old friend you are unwilling to give up following your spinal cord injury, a heart attack or even its effect on lips, mouth and so on.

Though for many, quitting can be difficult irrespective of what they hear or read on the many health problems associated with smoking, but experts are now suggesting another means of convincing them to stop smoking.

Telling smokers their lungs age significantly improves the likelihood of them quitting, the experts said. This could be helpful in convincing them to quit.

In the study published online in the March edition of the British journal BMJ, they suggested that if a doctor tells smokers their “lungs age” - the age of the average healthy nonsmoker who would match them in breathing strength they are more likely to stop smoking.

Using a spirometer, a device that measures how fast and how much air a person can breathe, the doctors tested 561 smokers, men and women with an average age of 53.

Half were randomly assigned to receive their results as lung age, explained with a chart showing lung capacity as it normally decreases with age. The other half were told the amount of air in litres they could force out in one second and were to return in a year “to see if there has been any change in lung function.”

People smoke for different reasonsThe subjects with readings that suggested a medical problem were referred to their physicians.

Regardless of the results, all participants were advised to quit smoking, informed about government programmes to stop smoking and told that the test of lung function did not show anything about other serious diseases that smoking causes.

Twelve months later, the scientists tested participants for carbon monoxide in their breath and nicotine in their saliva, reliable indicators of smoking. Of those who were not told their lungs age, 6.4 per cent were no longer smoking, and 13.6 per cent of those who knew their lungs age had quit.

Dr. Gary Parkes, the lead author and a general practitioner in Hertfordshire, said that even though at first the smokers were not highly motivated to quit, the advice resulted in a four to six per cent rate of quitting.

Even though there was no evidence that subjects with poorer lungs function were more likely to quit, the authors speculated that when told his lungs function is normal, a smoker feels encouraged to quit before it is too late, and when shown that it is abnormal is motivated to stop by the fear of further deterioration.

The precise psychological forces remain unclear, but the scientists cite previous research that suggested that information presented as a prospect for gain is more persuasive than negative messages about costs or disadvantages.

This study supports the introduction of screening smokers over 35 years of age to reduce smoking and improve early diagnosis of chronic lungs disease.

They also suggested that formal economic evaluation of this new and simple intervention should be a research priority.

An accompanying editorial said that providing feedback on lungs age with graphic displays seems to be the best option so far for communicating the results of spirometry.

This strategy might also be an opportunity for general practitioners to tailor smoking cessation messages to the individual, as recommended in the recent NICE guidance on smoking cessation.

Meanwhile, Dr Soji Ige, a chest physician at the University College Hospital(UCH), Ibadan, said the degree of recovery of the lungs from the effects of tobacco smoke is dependent on the number of cigarette sticks the individual smokes per day.

According to him, when an individual stops tobacco smoking, it might take between five to 10 years for the lung to recover. He said the lungs however could not go back to the same state as that of another individual who did not smoke.

In the meantime, helping and encouraging people to quit tobacco use is important as tobacco has been said to be a major reason for many chronic diseases. According to Prof. Akin Osibogun, Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), at a national training of trainers awareness workshop with the theme, “Tobacco Dependence to Cessation for Tertiary Health Institutions in Nigeria”, the current problems of chronic diseases reflects past exposure to risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity and alcohol use. The future burdens of these diseases will largely determine current exposures too.

According to Prof. Osibogun, tobacco use does not only kill half of all lifetime users, but contributes largely to cancer in more than 15 different sites such as lung, urinary tract, stomach and liver.

Given the unequivocal scientific evidence of the harm caused by tobacco smoking and second-hand smoke, he said it is important that the tobacco tax policy be adopted, more information about health risks from smoking disseminated and smoking in public places and in the workplaces restricted. Equally important is the need for a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertisement and promotion and increased access to cessation therapies to reduce the incidence of cancer and other diseases related to tobacco use.

Professor Ima-Obong Ekanem, a consultant Pathologist at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH/UNICAL), Calabar, also said that the benefits of quitting tobacco use are unlimited, adding that the positive effects of quitting begin immediately tobacco use stops and continue long after quitting.

“In the short term, the normal blood pressure, pulse and body temperature go back to normal, carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in the blood normalise, sense of taste and smell improves, and overall energy level increases.

Meanwhile in the end, they now have a reduced chance of dying from cancer and are more self-confidence in achieving goals. In addition, the heart becomes better relaxed, such experiences fewer cases of heartburn and indigestion and now has more stamina and eats better.