Smoking’s Impact on the Immune System Can Last for Years After Quitting, New Study Says

Cigarette smoking can have long-term effects on the immune system, according to a new study.

Earlier this week, a study published in the journal Nature highlighted how smoking tobacco can drastically alter a person’s immune system, in addition to other common effects previously known.

According to the study, smoking makes it harder for the body to fight infection both immediately and over time. The findings add that tobacco use may also put individuals at greater risk of developing chronic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

“Quit smoking as soon as possible,” study co-author Dr. Violaine Saint-André, a computational biology specialist at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, said in a statement to CNN. “The key message from our study, especially to young people, is that there appears to be a significant interest in long-term immunity from never starting to smoke.”

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In order to reach the revealed conclusions, the researchers as part of the study followed the blood samples of 1000 healthy individuals, men and women, who were aged 20 to 69 years.

Wanting to discover how more than 100 variables—including lifestyle, socioeconomic issues, dietary habits, age, gender, and genetics—affect the immune response, the researchers exposed blood to various diseases.

After the samples were exposed, those involved in the study found that smoking, body mass index and latent infection caused by the herpes virus had the greatest impact on the immune system.

The study noted that even when the smokers who participated in the study stopped smoking, their immune systems improved, although they did not recover until many years later. The more an individual smoked, the more their immune system changed, the study added.

The nurse listens to the patient’s heartbeat through a stethoscope.

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Currently, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The act kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, according to the organization, and an estimated 11.5% of adults nationwide smoked cigarettes in 2021.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education