Smoking causes cancer and sickens your heart. It is estimated that tobacco consumption and exposure to second-hand smoke are responsible for 17% of deaths from heart disease, worldwide.

After hypertension, consuming tobacco is the second cause of cardiovascular diseases. In Mexico during 2017, of  more than 88 thousand deaths from ischemic heart disease, 13% were due to smoking; while of 34 thousand deaths from cerebrovascular events, 9% was due to tobacco use.

Despite these data and evidence that exists since the sixties, many people do not know that, in addition to cancer and respiratory diseases, smoking is associated with acute myocardial infarction and is a risk factor for cerebrovascular events.

To draw attention to this, the World Health Organization (WHO) devoted the past World No Tobacco Day, celebrated on May 31, to the relationship between tobacco and heart disease.

In the framework of this celebration, WHO called for promoting health policies that continue with the progress in the reduction of tobacco consumption globally, which are still at lower levels to achieve international goals.

One of these policies are smoke-free spaces. The evidence shows that the implementation of these spaces in public areas and workplaces is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of acute myocardial infarction.

Remember, tobacco, more than heartbreak, breaks hearts.

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