What is the connection between smoking and heart disease and stroke?
• Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.1 • In 2006, 26,932 people died from heart disease, more than 26 percent of all deaths in Illinois that year.3 • Cigarette smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers. • Cigarette smoking approximately doubles a person’s risk for stroke. • Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries). • Smokers are more than 10 times as likely as nonsmokers to develop peripheral vascular disease. • Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm.1 • Smoking injures blood vessel walls and speeds up the process of hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).1 • Smoking temporarily raises blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot.4 • Smoking increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery. • Smokers tend to have higher concentrations of total low-density lipopro
