HHS HealthBeat (March 18, 2010)

Pipes, cigars and lungs

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Smoking a pipe or a cigar is still smoking. And researchers say pipes and cigars raise the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD – which makes it harder to breathe, and can’t be cured.

Researcher Graham Barr of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City looked at data on about 3,500 people ages 48 to 90, including pipe and cigar smokers.

“Previously we thought this was a problem in people with very severe lung disease. This study suggests similar relationships or effects occur in much milder lung disease.”  (10 seconds)

Barr says the findings underline the dangers of tobacco – pipes and cigars included.

The study in Annals of Internal Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 21, 2011