Smoking Increases Risk of Fatal Kidney Disease

Submitted by Mark Berman Wed 04/27/2011

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Add fatal kidney disease to the list of ailments smoking can cause. A new study finds that smoking increases the chances of developing advanced kidney cancer, the most deadly form of the disease.

A report from HealthDay News said research out of Duke University Medical Center examined the smoking histories of 845 people who had surgery for kidney cancer between 2000 and 2009.

20% of those who had never smoked were diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer. 29% of current and former smokers were diagnosed.

But hope is not lost for smokers -- kicking the habit will reduce your risk. The study found that every decade a former smoker was smoke-free reduced their risk by 9%.

"If you stop smoking, the risk stops," Dr. Matvey Tsivian, a urologic oncology fellow and the study's lead author, said in a news release. "And the longer you stop smoking, the better it is."

Former smokers who had not smoked for at least 20 years had a 22% risk for developing advanced kidney cancer, slightly higher than the 20% risk for non-smokers.

The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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