A new study found that smoking just one cigarette per day can hike risk of heart disease and stroke dramatically. Researchers advise smokers to quit rather than cut back on cigarettes if they want to stay healthy.
The findings were published in the journal BMJ.
According to the latest findings, people who smoke one cigarette daily have a 50% higher risk of developing a heart condition and are 30% more likely to land in a hospital with a stroke than non-smokers.
The latest findings show that there is no such thing as a safe level of smoking when the heart is involved. The good news is that people who cut down on their daily cigarette habit had the highest chance of kicking the habit for good.
- Heart disease is the top killer followed by cancer.
Heart disease and stroke account for 48% of early deaths in smokers. - In the Western world, the portion of population that smokes has decreased significantly in recent years, but more and more people smoke between one and five cigarettes daily.
The Findings
The recent analysis included data from 141 studies on the effects of smoking. Researchers found that smoking 20 cigarettes per day led to seven heart attacks in a group of 100 volunteers.
Participants who smoke only one cigarette per day had three heart attacks in a group of 100 people. Men who indulged in one cigarette daily faced a 48% higher risk of being diagnosed with heart disease and 25% more likely to be affected by a stroke than non-smokers.
In women, the heart disease risk did not increase, but there was a 31% higher risk of stroke if they smoked one cigarette per day.
Lead author Allan Hackshaw noted that people cut back on smoking in hopes to keep cancer at bay, which they do. But cutting back does not trim the risk of heart disease and stroke.
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