Skip to content Occasional Smoking Increases Cardiovascular Disease Risk
- Researchers say that smoking as few as two cigarettes a day can significantly increase a person’s risk of heart disease.
- Experts say there is no safe level of smoking, and the best preventive strategy is to never start the unhealthy habit.
- They say quitting smoking can be a challenge, but medical aids such as nicotine patches, as well as support from friends, can help.
Even an occasional cigarette can endanger a person’s health and increase their risk of cardioascular disease, according to a new study.
They add that a person’s health risks decline significantly in the decade after quitting smoking. However, the researchers note that a former smoker can still have increased health risks three decades after giving up tobacco.
They say the main message from their research is for people to quit smoking as early as possible.
“Lower-intensity smoking is associated with cardiovascular risk and the primary public health message for current smokers should be early cessation, rather than reducing the amount of smoking,” the study authors wrote.
The researchers published their findings on November 18 in PLOS Medicine.
Experts not involved in the study say the research spotlights an important health issue facing the United States.
“This is a robust and important study,” said Kevin Shah, MD, a cardiologist and program director of Heart Failure Outreach at MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Long Beach Medical Center in California.
“It provides compelling evidence that cigarette smoking — even at low levels — substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death,” Shah told Healthline.
“These results highlight the tremendous continued negative impact that smoking has on public health,” added Cheng-Han Chen, MD, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA.
How cigarettes impact heart health
To reach their findings, the researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland analyzed data from more than 300,000 adults who participated in 22 longitudinal studies.
Some of the study participants were followed for almost 20 years.
During that time, the researchers documented 125,000 deaths and 54,000 cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure.
The researchers defined “low-intensity smoking” as two to five cigarettes per day. They reported that this level of smoking was associated with a 57% higher risk of heart failure and a 60% higher risk of death from any cause when compared to people who have never smoked.
They noted that a person’s risk of cardiovascular events drops substantially in the first decade after quitting smoking and continues to decrease over time. However, they said that even after three decades, former smokers can still exhibit higher risk than people who have never smoked.
The researchers said they embarked on this study because of a trend of people smoking fewer cigarettes rather than quitting.
The American Lung Association reports that adult smoking in the United States decreased from about 42% in 1965 to 12% in 2022. That’s a decline of more than 70%.
However, the association states that the number of people smoking fewer than 15 cigarettes per day increased 85% during the same period.
“In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of people who still smoke, but smoke less,” said ichael Blaha, MD, MPH, a study author and a lead investigator for the American Heart Association’s Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science grant-funded research initiatives, in a statementTrusted Source.
“As smoking patterns shift with more people smoking fewer cigarettes, it’s important to understand the cardiovascular risks of low-intensity smoking and the long-term benefits of quitting,” Blaha continued.
Experts say this message is important for occasional smokers to understand.
“This [study] reinforces the message that there is no safe level of smoking. Cutting down is not enough,” said Shah.
Jayne Morgan, MD, a cardiologist and vice president of medical affairs at Hello Heart who specializes in women’s health and cardiovascular research, said the first few cigarettes can in fact do the most damage.
“There is no safe level of smoking for the cardiovascular system and the risk is not linear. The first few cigarettes cause a disproportionately large amount of damage,” Morgan told Healthline.
“This is because cardiovascular risk from smoking is driven by platelet activation, endothelial dysfunction, and vasospasm, which occur even at very low exposure, i.e., just one to two cigarettes,” she explained.
Chen said this message is particularly important for younger people.
“Younger adults need to understand that no amount of smoking is safe and that even occasional smoking will greatly increase your risk of death or heart disease,” he told Healthline.
“The most important thing [young adults] can do for their health at that stage is to quit smoking,” Chen added.
