Smokers out on a limb
It hasn’t worked for them.
Smokers and ex-smokers are being warned that they are at higher risk than are never-smokers of having to undergo amputations, according to a story by Peter Russell published on the BootsWebMD website. Boots, a chain of pharmacies says that its WebMD website provides UK specific, GP reviewed health information.
Russell reports experts at the British Heart Foundation as having said that more than a million people in the UK could be living with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and that nine out of 10 people with the condition are known to be smokers or ex-smokers.
However, Bijan Modarai, a consultant in vascular surgery at King’s College London and St Thomas’ Hospital was quoted as saying that about 30,000 adults had the most severe form of the condition, which resulted in at least 9,000 amputations a year.
PAD, which is also called peripheral vascular disease, occurs when deposits of fat build up in arteries and restricts blood supply to the legs. This process is called atherosclerosis, which can also lead to heart attacks and strokes.
About half of all people with PAD experience no symptoms, which is of concern because, left untreated, PAD can cause tissues in the leg to die, causing conditions such as gangrene and critical limb ischaemia (CLI) where blood flow to the limbs is severely restricted. These complications result in amputations in around three out of 10 cases.
In a statement, Dr. Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We do know that stopping smoking is the single most effective way of reducing your risk of developing this potentially deadly disease and with No Smoking Day on March 9, now is a great time to prepare to start your quitting journey”.
