Why do middle-aged people who do not have the "three highs" also suffer from myocardial infarction? Most of them are related to smoking

A cardiologist told Huazi that he had performed six surgeries for acute myocardial infarction in one afternoon a while ago. Except for one patient who was over 70 years old, the other five patients were middle-aged people around 40 years old. None of these five middle-aged people had high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and high blood sugar, but they had one thing in common, that is, they were all "smokers" with a smoking age of more than 10 years.

He told Huazi that many people he had met were like this. They only cared about their blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids, and looked for various medicines and folk remedies to control them every day, but when it came to quitting smoking, they shook their heads like rattles and said they couldn't quit.

1. Smoking is more harmful to the cardiovascular system than the "three highs"

Everyone is familiar with the phrase "smoking is harmful to health", but most people think that smoking only damages the respiratory system. In fact, smoking damages multiple systems of the human body, and it also causes great damage to the cardiovascular system. In 2017, there was a study on the relationship between smoking and coronary heart disease in the journal "Circulation".

Studies have shown that cigarettes contain nicotine, carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and a variety of toxic chemicals. Nicotine stimulates the sympathetic nerves, increases the release of catecholamine hormones, accelerates heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and raises blood pressure; it also increases cholesterol levels and increases the probability of atherosclerosis; carbon monoxide causes chronic hypoxia of vascular endothelial cells and abnormal metabolism, which ultimately promotes the formation of hardened plaques in the coronary arteries and increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

2. Most myocardial infarctions in young and middle-aged people are related to smoking

Smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease independent of the "three highs" and even more harmful to the cardiovascular system than the "three highs". According to relevant statistics, smokers are about three times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than non-smokers, and their chances of developing myocardial infarction increase by 20%.

Only the "three highs" do not necessarily lead to coronary heart disease, but if you smoke at the same time, the probability of coronary heart disease will almost reach 100%, and the onset time will be greatly advanced. Among patients with acute myocardial infarction, the elderly are mainly affected by the "three highs", while young and middle-aged people do not suffer from the "three highs" very often, and smoking factors account for the majority.

3. Cardiovascular risk can be reversed after quitting smoking

If you are determined to quit smoking, your body will show obvious changes one day after you quit. The concentration of toxic substances such as nicotine and carbon monoxide in the blood will decrease, the body's chronic hypoxia will change, the mind will feel more relaxed and clear, without the stimulation of cigarettes, sleep time will also start to extend, and the whole person will be more energetic.

In the early stage of quitting smoking, you may experience aggravated coughing symptoms. This is because without the stimulation of cigarettes, the lung nerves gradually resume normal function and cough to expel the toxins accumulated in the lungs. Three months after quitting smoking, the risk of coronary heart disease will drop by 30%; one year after quitting smoking, the risk of coronary heart disease will drop by 50%; but it will take 15 years after quitting smoking for the risk of coronary heart disease to approach the level of normal non-smokers.

4. Smokers also need to prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases

When preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, many people only focus on their blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid indicators, but ignore the factor of smoking. In fact, smoking is also a high-risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and long-term smoking also needs to be prevented. The key to prevention is to quit smoking. Then check whether there are plaques in the carotid artery and whether there is hardening of the fundus artery.

If plaques appear in the carotid artery or hardening of the retinal artery has occurred, it is necessary to quit smoking and use statins to control low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) below 2.6mmol/L. If the carotid artery stenosis exceeds 50%, aspirin should be taken to prevent platelets and prevent thrombosis.

In summary, when preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, do not ignore the harm of smoking. Especially for young and middle-aged people who do not have the "three highs", if they have the habit of smoking, they should also actively prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The best way is to quit smoking, which can not only protect health, but also save money.

I am pharmacist Huazi. Welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.