Smoking Effects on Asthma

Monday, July 27, 2009, 11:30
Asthma
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Andrew:

Dr. Shapiro, there are some people with asthma who smoke. One of them sent us an e-mail, and wonders about smoking and asthma. Now I’m sure you have a lot to say about smoking.

Dr. Shapiro:

Yes. Well, of course you can smoke and have asthma, but it makes it harder to control your asthma, and it accentuates the likelihood of having chronic lung disease as you get older. So asthma itself can cause some [lung] remodeling–we keep talking about that–and chronic changes that are detrimental. And smoking just adds on top of that and makes it more likely that you’ll end up with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is bad news!

Andrew:

Right, and these are the people who often end up wheeling an oxygen tank around with them.

Dr. Shapiro:

That’s right. So smoking is just a negative. Smoking also puts your children at risk of developing asthma and other respiratory diseases, and so second-hand smoke is also a very important consideration.

Andrew:

Is smoke, second-hand smoke, perhaps an allergen to other people in the family?

Dr. Shapiro:

It’s not actually an allergen in the medical sense of something that you build antibodies against, but it’s an irritant that is correlated with increased incidence of wheezing in children in the home, and decreased lung function for members of the family.

Andrew:

So if a parent has a child with asthma, and they continue to smoke, they are really causing problems for that child.

Dr. Shapiro:

Yes, they’re putting the child at extra risk.

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