Smoking-linked disease causes 25 Brits a day to have legs amputated

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Thursday 25 Feb 2016 - 15:02 Makkah mean time-16-5-1437 Smoking causes disease associated with legs ambutation (Image from Internet) London (IINA) – Around 25 Brits are having legs amputated every day due to a “cruel” disease linked to smoking, shock figures show, according to Mirror newspaper online. Smokers are being urged to quit the habit as a report shows a million adults – 90 percent of whom are smokers or ex-smokers – may be living with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Around half a million have been diagnosed with the disease but a top surgeon warned that the actual number of Brits affected could be twice as high. Ten million UK adults smoke cigarettes. Experts have said quitting is the single best thing they can do for their health. The daily noted that half of all PAD sufferers show no symptoms until they suffer a heart attack or stroke. The British Heart Foundation’s report says PAD happens when there is a build-up of fatty deposits in the walls of the leg arteries which restricts blood supply to leg muscles. Shocking figures show that around 9,000 Brits have to undergo leg amputations as a result every year, which works out at one every hour or 25 every day. AB/IINA