Tobacco.org

• Genes, environment are factors in smokers’ illness 

Four in 10 Greek smokers are threatened with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which kills about 3 million people around the world every year.

About 450 million people are estimated to suffer from this disease, also known as smokers’ cough. In Greece, it affects 8.5 percent of the adult population.

Smoking is the main cause and quitting is the only way to prevent it, but not all smokers are at risk. Scientists, led by Greek researchers from the University of Crete, have been studying the genetic basis of the disease for the purpose of developing a test to find out which smokers are at risk.

Professor Nikos Siafakas is head of the Greek Pulmonary Association, a professor at the University of Crete and the director of the Iraklion University Hospital’s pulmonary clinic, where important research has been carried out over the past few years into COPD.

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