S moking and Your Lungs
What cigarettes do • The cleaning system in your lungs does
University of
Pittsburgh When you smoke cigarettes, many chemicals
Medical Center
enter your body through your lungs. Burning
Information
tobacco produces more than 4,000 chemicals.
for Patients
Nicotine (NIK-uh-TEEN), carbon monoxide
(muh-NOK-side), and tars are some of these
substances. Smoking greatly affects your lungs
and airways. Smokers get a variety of problems
related to breathing. Problems range from an
annoying cough to grave illness like emphysema
(EM-fuh-ZEE-muh) and cancer.
How your lungs and airways change
Smoking cigarettes causes many changes in
your lungs and airways. Some changes are
sudden, last a short time, and then go away.
These changes are acute. Colds and pneumonia
are acute changes. Other changes happen
slowly and last a long time. These are chronic
changes. Some chronic changes may last the
rest of your life. Emphysema is an example of
a chronic change.
Here is a list of the changes that happen in
your lungs and airways when you smoke:
• The cells that produce mucus in your lungs
and airways grow in size and number. As a
result, the amount of mucus increases. The
mucus is also thicker.
not work well. The lungs have broom-like
hairs, called cilia (SILL-ee-uh). The cilia
clean your lungs. A few seconds after you
start smoking a cigarette, the cilia slow
down. Smoking one cigarette can slow the
action of your cilia for several hours.
Smoking also reduces the number of cilia,
so there are fewer cilia to clean your lungs.
• Your lungs and airways have more mucus,
and the mucus is not cleaned out well. So
the mucus stays in your airways, clogs them,
and makes you cough. This extra mucus can
easily get infected.
• Your lungs and airways get irritated and
inflamed. They become narrow and reduce
the air flow. Even one or two cigarettes
cause irritation and coughing.
• As you age, it’s normal for your lungs not
to work as well. When you smoke, your
lungs age faster.
• Your lungs can be destroyed. When lung
tissue is destroyed, the number of air spaces
and blood vessels in the lungs decreases.
Less oxygen is carried to your body.
• You are less protected from infection. When
you smoke, the natural defenses your lungs
have against infection do not work well.
• Cigarette smoke has chemicals that can
make normal cells change into cancer cells.
continued
 Weigh the benefits of quitting smoking
When you smoke, you have a much greater chance of getting health problems. In this section,
you will learn about the kinds of problems you can get from smoking. You will also learn how
you benefit when you quit smoking.

Breathing-related symptoms
University of
Pittsburgh
Medical Center When you smoke: When you quit:
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• chronic cough • fast decrease in breathing-related symp-
for Patients
toms no matter how much or how long
• more mucus
you smoked
• shortness of breath
• easier breathing within 72 hours
• wheezing
• marked decrease in cough, mucus, shortness
of breath, and wheezing within 1 month
• less irritated and inflamed airways
• cilia growth in 1 to 9 months
• lungs more able to handle mucus, self-clean,
and fight infection

Colds and lung infections

When you smoke: When you quit:

• more colds and lung infections • fewer colds and lung infections
• worse colds and lung infections • milder colds and lung infections

Flu and pneumonia

Smoking increases the number of deaths from flu and pneumonia (new-MONE-yuh). As fewer
people smoke, the death rate from flu and pneumonia drops rapidly.

When you smoke: When you quit:

• more and worse bouts of the flu • 50 percent less risk of pneumonia within
• more chance of pneumonia 5 years

• poor response to flu vaccine • fewer and milder bouts of the flu
• better response to flu vaccine
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Cigarette smoking is a major cause of COPD. COPD stands for chronic (KRON-ick) obstructive
(ob-STRUCK-tiv) pulmonary (PULL-muh-nair-ee) disease. COPD blocks the flow of air into
and out of your lungs. It is a leading cause of death in the United States. More than 80 percent of
COPD deaths are related to smoking. When you smoke, your risk of death from COPD is 10 times
greater than if you did not smoke.
COPD includes two diseases: chronic bronchitis (bronk-EYE-tis) and emphysema.

When you have chronic bronchitis: When you quit smoking:

• you get a long-lasting cough every year • symptoms of chronic bronchitis decrease
• your cough produces a lot of mucus that • symptoms of chronic bronchitis may
blocks air flow disappear over time

When you have emphysema: When you quit smoking:

• your lung tissue is destroyed over time • you get a small improvement right away
• your lungs are less able to take in fresh • the disease slows down
air and let out stale air
• you have a better chance of living longer
• your lungs and airways produce a lot of
mucus that blocks air flow

Asthma
Asthma (AZ-muh) is a chronic airway disease. People with asthma have periods of shortness of
breath, wheezing, chest tightness, and cough.

When you smoke: When you quit:

• symptoms of asthma are harder to control • symptoms of asthma decrease

Cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Smoking causes 85 percent of
lung cancer. Smokers have a higher number of pre-cancer changes in their airways than non-smokers.

When you smoke: When you quit:

• pre-cancer tissue can change to cancer • pre-cancer tissue may return to normal
• your risk of lung cancer and death is • your risk of lung cancer decreases within
20 times greater than a non-smoker’s 5 years
• your risk increases the more you smoke • your risk of lung cancer keeps decreasing
and the longer you smoke over time
continued
 How second-hand smoke affects you When you breathe second-hand smoke,
you can get:
When people are smoking, the air around
them is polluted with tobacco smoke. This is • wheezing
called second-hand smoke. Second-hand • chronic cough
smoke comes from two sources. The burning
• increased mucus
end of the cigarette produces smoke, and the
University of
Pittsburgh smoker exhales smoke. • shortness of breath
Medical Center When near a person smoking, non-smokers • trouble controlling asthma
Information breathe second-hand smoke. Other names for
for Patients • more lung infections and pneumonia
breathing second-hand smoke are “passive
smoking” and “involuntary smoking.” Passive • lung cancer
smoking has bad effects on the lungs and air- Stay away from second-hand smoke.
ways in both adults and children.
Researchers have studied adult non-smokers
who breathe cigarette smoke in the work place. Get help to quit smoking
Results show these adults have impaired UPMC Health System offers programs to
lungs. Second-hand smoke is a carcinogen help people quit smoking. Another name
(car-SIN-oh-jin). A carcinogen is a substance for quitting smoking is smoking cessation
known to cause cancer. When you breathe (sess-AY-shun). For help to quit smoking,
second-hand smoke, your risk of lung cancer call the UPMC Referral Service at
increases. In the United States each year, an 1-800-533-UPMC (8762).
estimated 3,000 people die from lung cancer
caused by second-hand smoke.

Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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For help in finding a doctor or health service that suits your needs, call the UPMC Referral Service
at 412-647-UPMC (8762) or 1-800-533-UPMC (8762).
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