Somkers under 40 run five times the risk of heart attacks

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 25 Aug 2004 - 0:00 PST


People under the age of 40, who smoke, are five times as likely to have a heart attack as non-smokers of the same age, reveals research in Tobacco Control.

The authors say that their findings put paid to the idea that only older smokers are at risk of heart disease.

The findings are based on data from the World Health Organization international monitoring study of cardiovascular disease (MONICA) and risk factors. MONICA involves participants between the ages of 33 and 64 from 21 countries.

The researchers assessed all non-fatal episodes of heart disease occurring between 1985 and 1994. These amounted to 18,762 'events' in men and 4047 in women.

Rates of smoking, collected as part of risk factor surveys, were lowest in Auckland, New Zealand (18%) and highest in Beijing, China (65%).

But 80% of those who had a non-fatal heart attack between the ages of 35 and 39 were smokers.

Men aged between 35 and 39, who smoked, were almost five times as likely to have a non-fatal heart attack as their non-smoking peers. The impact was even greater among women in the same age band, who smoked. They were over five times as likely to have a non-fatal heart attack.

Smoking accounted for almost two thirds (65%) of non-fatal heart attacks in men, and for over half (55%) in women aged between 35 and 39.

The risks for smokers in the age band 60 to 64 were lower, because of other contributory factors. But smoking still carried a higher risk for older women compared with men, possibly because they are more sensitive to the effects of smoking.

Contact:
Dr Markku Mahonen, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion. KTL
National Public Health Insitute, Helsinki, Finland.
Available via email only (will be checked regularly): markku.mahonen@ktl.fi

Click here to view the full paper:
http://press.psprings.co.uk/tc/september/244_tc3269.pdf

[Current smoking and the risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction in the WHO
MONICA Project populations Tobacco Control 2004; 13: 244-50]

For more information please contact:
Emma Dickinson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7383 6529
Fax: +44 (0)20 7383 6403
Email: edickinson@bmj.com.

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