Risk of major heart attack is eight times higher for younger adults who smoke
A UK study has found that smoking in young adults increases their risk of having a major heart attack by eight-fold compared to their peers who never smoked or who already gave it up. Older adults also have a higher chance of getting a heart attack compared to non-smokers their age, the researchers said.
Dr. Ever Grech, of the South Yorkshire Cardiothoracic Center at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield and senior author of study, said that people underestimate the health risks that come with smoking.
In an interview, Dr. Grech said that many patients seem to be aware that there are some risks of a heart attack with smoking, but they were unaware that the risks were anything more than slightly higher than usual.
Smoking has been tied to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems since the 1950s, according to Dr. Grech and his colleagues. Smokers have heart attacks at younger ages, but no study has looked at the incidence of heart attacks among young smokers in a local population.
For the new study, the researchers used data collected between 2009 and 2012 on people over age 18 in South Yorkshire in the UK. The population included 1,727 individuals who were treated for ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI), which is avery serious type of heart attack caused by a blockage in one of the heart’s main arteries.
About 49% of the STEMI patients were current smokers, about 27% were ex-smokers and about 24% were never smokers.
Applying the results to the South Yorkshire population, the researchers calculated that in a group of 100,000 people, 60 smokers under age 50 would have a heart attack every year, compared to a combined total of 7 never-smokers and former smokers in that age group.
The difference is equal to about an eight-fold increase in risk for young smokers, compared to non-smokers.
Likewise, the researchers found about a five-fold increase in risk among smokers ages 50 to 65 years and about a three-fold increase in risk among smokers over age 65 years, compared to their non-smoking peers.
Dr. Grech said the findings confirmed his observations from working in a cardiac catheterization laboratory, where doctors open clogged arteries in patients with STEMIs.
“We can use this data to make people better aware of the risks and provide positive encouragement and assistance,” he said.
In an editorial accompanying the new study, Dr. Yaron Arbel of Tel Aviv Medical Center in Israel called for society to play a more active role in preventing and treating smoking habits in the general population through medical, legislative, commercial and educational efforts.
“Without all these efforts, we will not reduce the risks associated with smoking,” he wrote.
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