Cardiovascular disease (CVD) class of diseases that involving the heart or blood vessels and these common bad habits triples the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease
Fatal cardiovascular diseases from smoking
People who smoke appear to have an almost three times higher risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease compared to people who have never smoked. The increased risk mainly affects people who started smoking early.
Smoking massively increases the risk of dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease, according to a study by the internationally renowned University of Oxford. The study was published in the English-language journal " Journal of the American Heart Association ".
What was the focus of the investigation?
Previous research has shown a link between adolescent smoking and an overall higher risk of premature death. In the current study, the team wanted to see if the results were generalizable and performed an analysis of US data focusing on death from cardiovascular disease.
It is possible to reduce an increased risk again
The age at which a person starts smoking is an important and often overlooked factor. People who start smoking at a young age have a particularly high risk of dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease, the researchers report. However, if people quit smoking, this risk could be significantly reduced again, especially in those who quit smoking at a younger age.
The team examined the medical history, lifestyle, and demographics of both smokers and non-smokers. The study enrolled 390,929 people, ages 25 to 74, with an average age of 47 years. 56 percent of the participants were women. The study did not include people who merely smoked occasionally.
During the follow-up phase, 4,479 people died from heart disease or a stroke before the age of 75 . Of these, 58 percent had never smoked, 23 percent had smoked before and 19 percent still smoked currently. Of the people currently smoking, two percent started smoking before the age of ten, and 19 percent began smoking between the ages of ten and 14, the researchers explain.
It is better to quit smoking early
It was found that when people stopped smoking by the age of 40, this reduced their increased risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease by about 90 percent, the experts report. The results also suggest that smoking cessation was beneficial at any age, and the earlier a person quit smoking, the better, the team adds.
The analysis found that compared to non-smokers, people who smoked who quit smoking between the ages of 15 and 34 were about the same risk of dying from heart disease or stroke. People who quit between the ages of 35 and 44, on the other hand, were about 20 percent higher risk.
People who quit between the ages of 45 and 54 were about 60 percent more likely, and those who stopped smoking between the ages of 55 and 64 were about 70 percent more likely to develop heart disease or disease The researchers report that they die from a stroke. For those who did not quit smoking into old age, the risk was even around three times higher than for people who have never smoked.
Smoking cessation must become an urgent priority
“This study complements the evidence that starting smoking at a young age can significantly increase the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. It affirms the position of the American Heart Association that smoking poses a serious health risk, that effective multi-episode counseling and medical therapies for smoking cessation should be available to all, and that smoking cessation is an urgent priority for people of all ages, especially the young should be ”, summarized Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, Assistant Scientific and Medical Director of the American Heart Association in a press release.