Gay men :: Cancer and the risks of smoking

Gay men may be at increased risk for certain forms of cancer, and illnesses linked to cigarette smoking.

Evidence of the damaging effects of cigarette smoking on human health continues to accumulate. Today there are some 25 known tobacco-related diseases, including heart disease, strokes, respiratory illnesses, several forms of cancer, and male impotence.

Smoking takes a heavy human toll. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that worldwide 4 million people die prematurely each year from smoking cigarettes. The 400,000 lives claimed each year by smoking-related illnesses in the United States matches the number of Americans who died in World War II. In China, smoking takes an estimated 2,000 lives per day, the equivalent of having five fully loaded jumbo jets crash each day with no survivors.

Cancer

Some cancers are more commonly seen in persons with HIV infection. For example, Kaposi's sarcoma and certain types of lymphomas are more common in people with HIV. Since HIV is found in higher rates among gay men in Western nations, cancers associated with HIV infection are more common among gay men in these parts of the world.

Some strains of HPV -- the virus that causes genital and anal warts -- are linked to certain forms of cancer. When this virus causes cancer in men, it most often causes anal cancer. Anal HPV infection primarily occurs through unprotected anal intercourse, and direct penis-to-rectum contact during sex. Anal cancer occurs more frequently in men with damaged immune systems (including those with HIV). Smoking may increase the risk of cancer as well. HPV on the penis can also cause penile cancers, but this quite rare.

Gay men may also be at increased risk for liver cancer. Gay men are considered at increased risk for hepatitis B infection, which has been linked to liver cancer and other forms of liver disease (including cirrhosis of the liver).

In addition to anal and liver cancers, gay men may also be at increased risk for lung cancer and other cancers linked to cigarette smoking. It has been suggested that smoking rates among gay men may be higher than the general population. Of course, smoking also has many other health risks, including an increased risk for emphysema and heart disease.

Cigarette smoking causes sexual impotence

The antismoking campaign is being bolstered by research indicating that cigarette smoking is a leading cause of male impotence. The constriction and blockage of small blood vessels associated with smoking may first manifest itself in the inability to achieve an erection, well before blockage of the larger coronary arteries leads to heart disease.

One of the mainstays of California's highly successful antismoking campaign is a TV commercial in which a man's flirtation with a woman fails when the cigarette in his mouth begins to droop. Experience in California indicates that while adolescent males may not be particularly worried about their mortality, they are concerned about their sexuality. In Thailand, cigarette packs carry in large type the warning “Cigarette smoking causes sexual impotence.”

Sources: (http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com)(http://www.thebody.com)