"Smoking One Pack of Cigarettes Daily for 30 Years Increases Sepsis Risk by 1.34 Times"

Longer Smoking Duration Increases Risk of Sepsis
"Smoking, a Risk Factor for Sepsis"

A study has found that the longer the smoking duration, the higher the risk of developing sepsis. In particular, those who smoked one pack daily for more than 30 years or two packs daily for more than 15 years had a 1.34 times higher risk of developing sepsis compared to non-smokers.

A study revealed that the risk of developing sepsis is 1.34 times higher in individuals who smoked one pack daily for over 30 years or two packs daily for over 15 years compared to non-smokers.

On the 24th, a research team led by Professors Han Sang-hoon, Lee Kyung-hwa, and Lee Eun-hwa from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Gangnam Severance Hospital, along with Professor Han Kyung-do from the Department of Information Statistics and Actuarial Science at Soongsil University, announced that they confirmed this fact by tracking the smoking status and sepsis risk of 3,881,958 adults who participated in the national health screening conducted by the National Health Insurance Service in 2009 over a 10-year period.

The research team categorized the subjects into 2,342,841 non-smokers who had never smoked, 539,850 former smokers who had quit, and 999,267 current smokers, analyzing the correlation between smoking amount, smoking duration, and the risk of sepsis.

[Image source=Pixabay]

Sepsis is a condition in which an inflammatory response occurs throughout the body due to infections such as microorganisms, leading to rapid dysfunction of major organs. The fatality rate reaches 25?30%, and approximately 50 million sepsis patients occur worldwide annually.

The study results also confirmed that regardless of current smoking status, the longer the smoking duration, the higher the risk of sepsis. Using the non-smoker group as a reference, among smokers with more than 30 pack-years, the risk of developing sepsis was 1.34 times higher. A pack-year refers to the average number of cigarette packs smoked per day multiplied by the number of years smoked. Thirty pack-years means smoking one pack daily for 30 years or two packs daily for 15 years. When divided by smoking duration, those with less than 10 pack-years had a 1.10 times higher risk, those with 10 to less than 20 pack-years had a 1.16 times higher risk, and those with 20 to less than 30 pack-years had a 1.19 times higher risk of sepsis.

Professor Han Sang-hoon stated, "We have proven that smoking is a decisive risk factor influencing the occurrence of sepsis," adding, "Regardless of the presence of chronic diseases or lifestyle habits, smoking itself increases the risk of sepsis, and the risk increases proportionally with the duration and amount of smoking." He also said, "Those who have maintained smoking for more than 30 pack-years should recognize that even if they are currently quitting smoking, there is still a risk of developing sepsis."

Meanwhile, this research was published in the international journal Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.