kidney damage

the bottom line

If this site had been written ten years ago, it would not have mentioned kidney damage as one of the harmful effects of smoking. It's only in the last few years that scientists have learned that smoking can cause or worsen kidney problems.

Several years ago, scientists discovered that smoking worsens kidney damage in people who have medical problems that affect the kidneys -- such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Recently, scientists have also learned that men who smoke have poorer kidney function than nonsmoking men -- even if they have nothing else wrong with them. (Scientists have not found such a relationship in women -- at least, not yet.) Smoking may damage the kidneys by causing brief increases in blood pressure each time a person smokes a cigarette.