Vascular Disease Awareness Month

September is quite a big month, in terms of the awareness campaigns that are running, however one that is quite significant is the awareness campaign that is running throughout September: Vascular Disease Awareness Month.

A vascular disease is any abnormal condition of the blood vessels (arteries and veins). The body uses blood vessels to circulate blood through itself. Vascular diseases outside the heart can “present” themselves anywhere. The most common vascular diseases are stroke, peripheral artery disease (PAD), abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid artery disease, arteriovenous malformation, blood clots and deep vein thrombosis.

With the current global pandemic, vascular disease is something that everyone needs to be more aware of, mainly due to the fact that intravascular clotting, a disorder in which the proteins that control blood clotting become overactive, is a major complication of COVID-19 and presages a bad outcome.

Here at Yorkshire Smokefree we stand with Vascular Disease Awareness Month, there are strong links between smoking and Vascular Disease, specifically PAD.

Approximately 90% of patients with PAD have a history of smoking, smoking even half a pack of cigarettes a day may increase your risk of having PAD by up to 50%.

By quitting smoking, PAD patients can increase their chances of long-term survival, more benefits including reducing the risk of developing a heart disease, having a stroke and lowering the risk of atherosclerosis, blood clots and PAD.

A great way to take action and prevent Vascular Disease is to quit smoking with Yorkshire Smokefree and take the first step to begin your full-stop journey.

There are many ways we can help:

Quit online - https://yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk/pages/quit-online
Our online quit tool will allow you to create your own personal profile and will support you on a daily basis through your quit journey.

Telephone support - our advisors are on hand to answer any questions or provide additional support as you need it. You can call 0800 612 0011 (free from landlines) or 0330 660 1166.
Visit our frequently asked questions section to find out more: https://yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk/frequently-asked-questions