Tobacco and Peripheral Vascular Disease

Cigarettes cause peripheral vascular disease, a condition that reduces blood flow to the limbs and which can lead to gangrene and limb amputation.^{Footnote 1Footnote 2}

• Key facts about tobacco use and peripheral vascular disease
• What is peripheral vascular disease?
• How does tobacco use increase the risk of peripheral vascular disease?
• How does quitting reduce the risk of peripheral vascular disease?
• Health benefits of quitting tobacco use at any age
• Call for free help to quit

Key facts about tobacco use and peripheral vascular disease

• Someone who smokes is three times more likely to get peripheral vascular disease than someone who does not smoke.^{Footnote 2}
• The risk for peripheral vascular disease increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day.^{Footnote 1}
• The risk of amputation due to peripheral vascular disease also increases with smoking.^{Footnote 3}
• Surgery to treat peripheral vascular disease is three times more likely to fail in those who continue to smoke compared with those who have never smoked.^{Footnote 4}

View health-related messages for all tobacco product packaging.

What is peripheral vascular disease?

Peripheral vascular disease is the reduction of blood flow to arms and legs due to narrowed blood vessels. This is caused by atherosclerosis, a condition that leads to the narrowing of the arteries through plaque buildup.^{Footnote 5}

Peripheral vascular disease is often undiagnosed because symptoms can be mistaken for normal signs of aging. Symptoms of the disease include leg pain that does not go away, foot or toe wounds that heal slowly, poor toenail growth, and low foot or leg temperature.^{Footnote 6}

If detected early, peripheral vascular disease can be treated through lifestyle modification and medication. At later stages, surgery to the blood vessels (such as a bypass graft) in the affected limbs may be required.^{Footnote 7}

If left untreated, peripheral arterial disease can lead to gangrene, the death of body tissue, which can lead to limb amputation. If someone who smokes also has diabetes, they are up to four times more likely to lose a limb.^{Footnote 8}

How does tobacco use increase the risk of peripheral vascular disease?

Smoking contributes to the formation of blood clots in blood vessels. Smoking also promotes the build up of plaque in arteries, making them narrower. This plaque can harden and could cause the vessel to rupture, leading to the formation of blood clots.^{Footnote 1Footnote 9}

Smoking contributes to poor blood vessel function in both coronary and peripheral arteries.^{Footnote 10}

How does quitting reduce the risk of peripheral vascular disease?

Smoking is one of the biggest risk factors for peripheral vascular disease development and progression.^{Footnote 11}

Quitting reduces the development of atherosclerosis and slows down the progression of atherosclerosis.^{Footnote 12}

If surgery is required due to peripheral vascular disease development, quitting at the time of surgery still improves rates of success.^{Footnote 4}

If someone who smokes has peripheral vascular disease, quitting can help lower risk of limb amputation.^{Footnote 11}

Health benefits of quitting tobacco use at any age

Quitting tobacco use reduces the risk of premature death, improves health, and enhances quality of life.^{Footnote 12} Quitting at any age is beneficial to one's health.^{Footnote 12} Even people who have smoked or used tobacco heavily for many years benefit from it.^{Footnote 9Footnote 12} Quitting is the most important thing someone who smokes can do to improve their health.

Read more about the benefits of quitting smoking.

Call for free help to quit

Call the toll-free pan-Canadian quit line at 1-866-366-3667. Quit line counselling, alone or in combination with cessation medication, increases success in quitting.^{Footnote 12}