smoking and heart disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) or heart disease is a major cause of death in the world. There were approximately 17.3 million people who died from heart disease in 2008, and there will be over 23 million people who die because of heart disease by 2030 (WHO, 2014). The causes of heart disease vary due to many risk factors. Tobacco use is a major risk factor for heart disease. The globally accelerating magnitudes of heart diseases mortality and morbidity rates have compelling the need for public attention and global responses to cigarette smoking. More importantly, smoking is a preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The burden of cardiovascular disease has been the leading reason for the numerous studies and investigations with the purpose of improving interventions towards smoking and prevention of heart disease. Evidence from biological links, the environment, and age have shown various pieces of evidence that smoking is linked to heart disease causation. Along with the cultural attitudes toward smoking, nicotine dependence, gender, and economic costs of worldwide prevention and control reflects the difficulties of smoking cessation in different countries.
1) Heart diseases are appearing as leading cause of death in developed countries and developing countries (WHO, 2011); however, the death rate varies dramatically across countries. Studies shown heart diseases deaths occurred in developing countries were account for 75% of global deaths (Gaziano, 2010). By looking at the statistical data about the general trends of cardiovascular diseases. Those evidences suggest that a high smoking prevalence country faces considerable risks of heart diseases related morbidity and mortality among the population. For example, in one...

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...verse relationship between plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level which is the good cholesterol level and risk of developing heart diseases, which means the higher level the HDL in the plasma, the lower chances for people from getting heart diseases (He, 2013).
Additionally, genetic variation is an important factor of smoking for cardiovascular disease. An important gene in our body called NPC1 is responsible for regulating the NPC1 protein to transport cholesterol and lipids. Dysfunction of the protein can cause accumulation of cholesterol and other lipids in the body (Ma, 2010), which could cause excess of cholesterol block the blood vessel and results heart attack. Evidences have shown that smoking can cause variation of NPC1and consequently lead to cholesterol and lipids regulation dysfunction therefore lead to coronary heart disease (Ma, 2010).