Tobacco exposure ‘triples heart risk’

All forms of tobacco exposure make the user up to three times more likely to suffer a heart attack, new research reveals.

The various types of exposure, from smoking and inhaling second-hand smoke, as well as chewing tobacco, all increase the risk, according to the study reported in News Medical.

Analysing data from 27,000 people in 52 countries, the Interheart study was conducted by Professor Salim Yusuf and Dr Koon Teo, of McMaster University, Ontario, Canada and published in the Lancet.

Regular smokers were three times more likely to suffer a heart attack than non-smokers, the research found, while moderate users of eight to ten cigarettes a day doubled the risk. Exposure to second-hand smoke, for smokers and non-smokers, was also found to be harmful, with those exposed for 22 hours or more per week increasing the likelihood of heart attack by up to 45 per cent.

“Chewing tobacco also increased the risk of a heart attack two fold, indicating that all forms of tobacco use or exposure are harmful,” stated Dr Koon Teo.

Professor Yusuf added: “Since the risks of heart attack associated with smoking dissipate substantially after smoking cessation, public-health efforts to prevent people from starting the habit and promote quitting in current smokers, will have a large impact in prevention of heart attack worldwide.”

The research intended to calculate the risk of heart attack from the various form of tobacco exposure in all areas of the world, finding that all forms of tobacco use have a harmful impact. This includes sheesha smoking, common in the Middle East, and beedie smoking, which is popular in south Asia.

Researchers adjusted calculations to incorporate other factors which could have an impact on the heart, including diet and age.

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