All forms of tobacco consumption, whether smoking, chewing or inhaling second-hand smoke, raise the risk of heart attack by up to three times, according to the results of a new study in the Lancet medical journal. The study, covering a total of 27,000 people in 52 countries, found that tobacco use in any form - including the waterpipe or sheesha, popular in the Middle East - is bad for health. When compared to people who had never smoked, heavy smokers had risk of heart attacks three times higher, while even light smokers and people who chewed tobacco had a doubled risk. The INTERHEART study was carried out by a team lead by Salim Yusuf and Koon Teo of McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. It also found that the risk of heart attack diminished over time after an individual had stopped smoking - with the rate of diminution dependent on the number of cigarettes the user had smoked. In light smokers, those smoking less than 10 cigarettes a day, the increased heart risk dropped away five years after quitting. But for people who had smoked more that 20 a day there was still a 22 percent increased risk of heart attack two decades later. “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 ... will have a large impact in prevention of heart attack worldwide,” Yusuf said.
