It’s no secret smoking cigarettes is bad for your health. A recent study shows that the habit may also have another side effect: increasing the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs).
Still, there is at least some good news for current smokers. Quitting cigarettes could help decrease the chances of developing an AAA.
The analysis found that the estimated risk of AAA from 45 through 85 years old was 5.6 percent among the general population and 10.5 percent among current smokers. That translated into current smokers having a 6- to 7-fold higher risk of clinical and ultrasound-detected asymptomatic AAA compared with people who never smoked.
However, people who quit smoking for three to eight years had a 29 percent lower risk of AAA during their lifetimes compared with people continued to smoke.
“Smoking is the most important risk factor for AAA,” the researchers wrote.
In this analysis, which was published online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology on Nov. 10, the researchers evaluated data on 15,792 participants from a prospective study. All of the adults were at risk of developing AAAs.
During a median follow-up period of 22.5 years, the researchers identified 590 clinical AAA events. The crude incidence rate of AAA was 1.90 per 1,000 person-years
Besides smoking, other factors associated with an increased risk of AAA were white race, greater height and greater low-density lipoprotein or total cholesterol. Still, smokers had the greatest risk.
The researchers noted that the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends an ultrasound screening for AAA in males who are 65 to 75 years old and have smoked during their lifetime. However, the USPSTF has no recommendation on screening among women of this age group who are current or former smokers. These results may help change the minds of decision makers, according to the researchers.
“Women who currently smoke have a similar risk as men who quit smoking; and yet, the task force does not recommend screening these women,” lead researcher Weihong Tang, PhD, MS, MD, of the University of Minnesota, said in a news release. “This is important data that physicians and health policy makers should be aware of.”
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.