Does smoking really hurt the kidney?
Q: Smoking also hurts the kidney?
A: Yes, when people smoke, many nephrotoxic substances have been quietly inhaled into the body to kill kidney cells. After smoking, the nephrotoxic heavy metal cadmium and the increased free radicals in the kidney will cause kidney cell damage and death!
Q: If it is a young man who is very healthy, will smoking not be a big problem?
A: Wrong.
Everyone is equal before tobacco. In fact, no matter old or young, men or women, smoking may harm kidney cells. The more you smoke, the longer you smoke, the greater the harm you may cause.
How did the kidney get hurt while smoking?
Q: Is there what after smoking hurts the kidney?
A: A significant sign of renal damage is persistent proteinuria.
Smoking may lead to proteinuria, and for long-term smokers, whether smoking is moderate or not, the risk of irreversible proteinuria is significantly increased.
Q: So how does smoking damage the kidney?
A: Smoking hurts the kidney in two ways.
- First, as mentioned above, toxic substances directly damage renal cells and damage renal function. Second, smoking will increase hypertension, contract blood vessels, cause hypertension and bring great burden to the kidney.
You know, renal blood flow accounts for 20% ~ 25% of cardiac output. Think about it, after vasoconstriction, does the kidney have sufficient blood and can it not be destroyed?
Q: If there is already hypertension, can smoking have a greater impact on the kidney than hypertension?
A: In fact, among hypertension patients, smokers are more likely to develop malignant hypertension.
- First of all, smoking will make people’s blood pressure rise higher. Secondly, smoking will make blood pressure unstable. In addition, smoking will also reduce the effect of some antihypertensive drugs.
These three effects will make blood pressure difficult to control. How can the kidney stand it?
Smoking has a greater impact on kidney disease patients?
Q: If there is already kidney disease, is it more harmful?
A: That’s right.
Smoking can aggravate kidney disease, there are several kinds:
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The first is hypertensive nephropathy, which has already been mentioned above.
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The second is diabetic nephropathy, Smoking may be harmful to all stages of diabetic nephropathy. Some studies have found that among diabetic nephropathy patients, the [glomerular filtration rate] of smokers decreases four times as much as that of non-smokers. 1. The value of glomerular filtration rate is a common indicator of renal function, and its decrease reflects the degree of renal function damage.
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The third is lupus nephritis. According to the study published in Arch Intern Med Medical Journal [The importance of hypertension and Smoking], the median time interval for lupus nephritis to develop to the end stage of renal damage is 145 months for smokers and 273 months for non-smokers. This sentence means that smoking greatly accelerates the pace of uremia in lupus nephritis patients.
Therefore, smoking in nephrotic patients has a great impact on the worsening of the disease.
Q: What is uremia? Smoking has a what relationship with it?
A: When the glomerular filtration rate drops to a certain level, people will get uremia. This is a dangerous condition. Dialysis must be used to remove harmful substances from the blood as much as possible. The damage of smoking to uremic patients will not only further damage their renal function, but also induce or aggravate stage complications.
For example, uremic smokers are more likely to suffer from ventricular hypertrophy and cardiovascular events, which is extremely unfavorable to patients.
In order to protect the kidney, quit smoking!
Q: Is that all the harm smoking does to the kidney?
A: It’s not over yet.
Perhaps it is not easy for everyone to think that smoking will lead to stones, and the damage of smoking to kidney cells creates conditions for the formation of stones. If kidney stones are not handled well, they will also affect renal function. In addition, there are many kidney diseases, even kidney cancer, which are also related to smoking. These studies are underway.
Q: It seems that it is necessary for smokers to quit smoking in order to protect their kidneys?
A: Yes, only two words: Quit smoking!
Healthy people and kidney disease patients should give up smoking as soon as possible. If possible, please let more people around you know such information.
Responsible Editor: Ding Ruoshui