Heroin Smoking and COPD: A Case for Targeted Screening Spirometry

[摘要] Although tobacco smoking is the most important risk factor for the development of COPD,¹ smoking other illicit substances is also associated with varying respiratory complications; however, there is little evidence that cannabis (the second most commonly smoked substance after tobacco) or crack cocaine, in the absence of tobacco, by itself leads to chronic airflow obstruction.^2,3 In connection with the current opioid epidemic, another illicit substance that is increasingly commonly smoked is heroin, presumably as a harm-reduction strategy to avoid the well-known complications of needle injection (acquisition of bloodborne bacterial, viral [including HIV], or fungal infections; embolism; injection-site soft tissue injuries; etc).

[学科分类] 呼吸医学