Does smoking affect hyperthyroidism?

Hyperthyroidism is a relatively serious chronic disease and we need to pay enough attention to it. Patients with hyperthyroidism often show bad temper in daily life. If your family members suffer from hyperthyroidism, we must start from their perspective, avoid emotional words and quarrels. And if there is a smoking situation, we must support that smoking has a negative effect on hyperthyroidism. So, what effects does smoking have on hyperthyroidism?

1. It is best not to smoke. In the late 20th century, researchers unexpectedly discovered that smoking is associated with exophthalmos. Swedish physician Haag first reported the association between smoking and exophthalmos in exophthalmos goiter. Comprehensive data from various studies show that among patients with Basedow's disease, the eyeballs of light smokers are 0.23 mm higher on average than those of non-smokers, while those of heavy smokers are 0.32 mm higher on average. At the same time, hundreds of hyperthyroidism patients who did not have exophthalmos were tracked for 5 years, and the results showed that only one non-smoker had exophthalmos symptoms, while the exophthalmos rate among smokers was as high as 100%. It is true that smoking can aggravate certain symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and patients with hyperthyroidism should actively quit smoking.

2. It is a well-known fact that smoking is harmful to health. When cigarettes are lit, they release chemicals such as tar and carbon monoxide. Smoking will have an adverse effect on both the course of hyperthyroidism itself and the effectiveness of drug treatment. In addition, patients with hyperthyroidism often have eye changes, such as exophthalmos, which is called "hyperthyroid eye disease." Smoking can have adverse effects on hyperthyroidism eye disease and may aggravate exophthalmos.

3. What conditions lead to an increase in exophthalmos due to hyperthyroidism? For example, smoking is clearly a high-risk condition. The incidence rate among smokers is 7.7 times higher than that of non-smokers. Smoking is definitely a risk factor, but many patients themselves do not realize this. There is no relationship between smoking and thyroid cancer. Domestic and foreign surveys show that there is a relationship, so we ask patients to quit smoking.

4. For smokers, they sometimes don’t care about the harm of smoking to hyperthyroidism, but they should still be advised that smoking is very bad for one’s own health and also affects the recovery of some diseases. We can’t do this. If there are sick patients around us, then secondhand smoke will cause great harm to them. We can’t be selfish people.