NEW YORK, Nov 17 (Reuters Health) -- Ask just about anyone why they
shouldn't smoke, and they will tell you: Smoking causes cancer. But for this
year's "Great American Smokeout" on Thursday, November 18, allergy specialists
are reminding their patients that smoking can also trigger problems in the nose
and sinuses.
Smoking "has an effect on our long-term health, contributing to problems
such as nasal and sinus cancer," Dr. Michael Benninger of the Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, stated. "It can also affect our day-to-day
health, by exacerbating allergies, contributing to snoring and night coughing,
and making breathing difficult."
Members of the Sinus and Allergy Health Partnership, a project of several
medical societies, are urging their patients and the public to participate in
the Great American Smokeout. To encourage them, the Partnership points out that
tobacco smoke can contribute to nasal and sinus cancer, as well as to upper and
lower respiratory diseases and lung cancer.
Tobacco smoke can aggravate allergies, as well. In fact, experts point out
that long-term smoking can lead to earlier and more serious symptoms in people
already predisposed to develop allergies. Smoke gets in your eyes, too, causing
itchiness and irritation wherever it is found.
The effects of secondhand tobacco smoke on children are just as serious,
if not more so, according to Partnership experts. They point out that children
exposed to secondhand smoke in the home are more likely than other children to
develop chronic lung problems, allergies, and congested sinuses.
One study, conducted among 4- to 11-year-olds in Boston, found "frequent
colds and general sinus symptoms... to be significantly associated" with smoking
by the children's mothers.
The Great American Smokeout is sponsored by the American Cancer Society,
in hopes that smokers who quit for one day might quit forever.
