E-Kidney | May 2012 Smoking and Your Kidneys The National Kidney
Foundation's 5 Tips to Quit Smoking A pack a day can pack a
painful punch to the kidneys. In addition to causing lung cancer
and lung disease, smoking is also associated with kidney
disease, kidney cancer and bladder cancer. Smoking slows the
blood flow to vital organs like the kidneys, causing damage.
Think of smoking as stepping on the accelerator for any disease
that you may have. So if you have kidney disease, smoking can
make it even worse. Diseases that damage the kidney, such as
diabetes and high blood pressure, are also worsened when you
smoke. Smoking can interfere with medications used to treat high
blood pressure making them less effective and uncontrolled or
poorly controlled high blood pressure is a leading cause of
kidney disease. Smoking also can directly result in narrowing of
blood vessels that leads to hardening of the arteries. Hardening
of the arteries leads to nephrosclerosis, which is a form of
kidney disease. Quitting smok