A recent research discovered that smoking less also poses serious health effects. Scientists warned that even reduced levels of smoking can lead to serious cardiovascular damage.
Scientists from the American Heart Association’s Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center assessed data from 22 long-term studies involving over 320,000 adults.
According to a study, the findings, published in PLOS Medicine, show that smoking only a few cigarettes a day significantly increases the risk of cardiac disorders, leading to potential death.
Only smoking cessation is the only way to reverse these risks.
Adults were grouped into never smokers, current smokers, and former smokers, and their smoking habits were measured in “pack-years” and cigarettes per day. Health outcomes studied included heart attack, stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and overall mortality.
For the study, participants included the group of people who never smoked, and current smokers, and their smoking habits were measured in “pack-years” and cigarettes per day.
The researchers examined the impact of smoking on cardiac arrests, heart failure, strokes, arrhythmias, and overall risk of death.
Results indicated that current smokers suffered from double the risk of dying from any cause compared to never smokers. People who only had two to five cigarettes a day showed double the risk of cardiac diseases and increased the mortality risk by 60%.
Furthermore, the study revealed that health risks started to decline immediately after smoking cessation and continue to decline over time. After 10 years, former smokers see significant enhancements, and after 20 years, their risk is more than 80% reduced than current smokers.
Researchers stated, “Lower-intensity smoking is still linked to cardiovascular risk, and the key public health message should be early cessation rather than merely reducing smoking."
