KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — Most people know that smoking and vaping are harmful. But they never realise the extent of its effects beyond the lungs.
Long before the symptoms appear, it may already affect their kidneys, brain and their vital organs, setting the stage for a heart attack they never saw coming.
For most Malaysians, both acts are still seen as a lung habit, something that causes a cough, or perhaps cancer down the line. But doctors who work at the frontlines of respiratory and emergency medicine say the damage runs far deeper, and starts far earlier, than most people realise.
According to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2023, approximately one in five (19 per cent) Malaysian adults still uses tobacco products.
