Smoking--an emerging risk factor for renal diseases

Abstract

The health, economic and social costs of smoking are enormous and well known to physicians. Smoking results in a lot of morbidity and mortality mainly related to cardiovascular disease, cancer and pulmonary disease. The effect of smoking on the kidneys is little appreciated. It is the purpose of this review article to give evidence from available literature that smoking is indeed deleterious to the kidneys and may result in progression of chronic renal failure to end stage renal disease. It is concluded that nephrologists, and indeed all physicians, should make a concerted effort to save their patients from this vice.