Study Says Receiving a Smoker’s Lung is Better Than None
Smoking has emerged as a kind of catch-all evil in modern times (it does cause cancer, mind), and each year, the practice becomes more and more effectively outlawed as prices climb ever higher on cigarettes.
Yet while the single most emphatically high-impact thing you can do for your health is not to smoke or to quit, a new study reveals that transplant patients are better off receiving the lung of a smoker than not receiving a lung at all. (Kind of scarily, though, the study also acknowledges patients “probably won’t live as long as those who get a lung transplant from a nonsmoker,” which seems like a foregone conclusion, if sobering.)
In an email regarding the study, Dr. Norman Edelman, the chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, concedes:
“There is rarely an ‘ideal’ organ available… A smoker donor is really just one more factor to consider.”
Dr. James Neuberger is associate medical director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England and one of the study’s co-authors. he says:
“I’d rather take the lungs from a smoker than get no lungs at all.”
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Kim LaCapria Kim LaCapria is a writer and editor based in New York. A longtime information junkie, she began blogging full-time at the Inquisitr in 2009. Prior to that, she worked as a marketing assistant in the cosmetics and skincare industry. In addition to her writing for fortytwotimes, she also writes for Medacity and The Inquisitr. Kim is also a contributor for SocialNewsDaily, Indyposted, and TotallyMoney. In the past, she contributed to Lipstick and Luxury and managed social media accounts and blogs for several small and mid-sized businesses.
