300 Million Asthmatics Worldwide

And about 20% of asthmatics smoke. Smoke makes asthma worse.
What is asthma? Asthma is a disease of the respiratory airways. Asthmatics for reasons that we don’t fully understand react more severely to airborne triggers causing a swelling and narrowing (constriction) of the airways. There is also a component of inflammation.
This narrowing of the airways causes breathing to  have a whistling sound. (Wheezing). The narrowing of the airways is usually reversible but in some cases it is not and people die.
Smoke from cigarettes are a trigger for asthma. That is the main reason why smokers have the worse cases of asthma.
15% of children suffer from asthma. The children of parents who smoke then to have the worse cases of asthma. And it doesn’t matter whether these parents claim that they do not smoke around their children. The smoke that lingers in the parents clothes, hands and hair is enough of trigger to cause coughing, inflammation, difficulty breathing and even death in some cases.
photo credit: Dottie Mae