Quitting smoking quickly improves heart health

January 11, 2005 – Two studies, one Japanese and the other German, confirm that quitting smoking can quickly improve heart health and significantly reduce the risk of developing a cardiovascular disorder, especially a heart disease. stroke.

The first study¹ analyzes data collected from 1989 to 1999 from more than 94,683 Japanese (41,782 men and 52,901 women), to determine whether there is a correlation between quitting smoking and reduced risk of dying cardiovascular accident or stroke.

Fifty-four percent of the participants were smokers, 26% were ex-smokers, and 20% had never smoked.

Not surprisingly, the researchers found that smoking increased the overall risk of death from cardiovascular disorders. In fact, compared to non-smokers, men who smoked had a 1.6 times higher risk of dying from a cardiovascular disorder, 2.4 times higher risk of dying from a heart attack and 1.5 times higher. great to suffer a fatal stroke. Among women, these rates were 3.6%, 2.2% and 1.8%, respectively.

But by quitting smoking, the subjects saw all of these risks decrease from the first two years of abstinence. In particular, the authors noted that the risk of dying from a stroke decreased considerably – by 27% – from the second to the fourth year without tobacco, confirming that the beneficial effects in this regard were rapid.

Overall, the researchers found that the risks of dying from any of the cardiovascular disorders studied were the same for non-smokers and ex-smokers 10 to 14 years after the latter quit smoking.

Avoid a second heart attack

In addition, a recent German study² tends to show that people who have had a myocardial infarction or suffered a severe angina attack also see their state of health improve quickly if they stop smoking.

The researchers followed for a year 967 people who were registered in a cardiac rehabilitation program, after having suffered a first cardiovascular accident or a first major angina attack (between January 1999 and May 2000). Analysis of the data indicates that the risk of a second heart attack or angina attack decreases by 40% in patients who quit smoking, from the first year of abstinence. Conversely, the occurrence of a second cardiac episode was strongly related to smoking.

According to the authors, the results of this study come, at least in part, to address the lack of data on the short-term effects of smoking cessation on heart health. The long-term benefits that can be derived from it have, for their part, been the subject of several conclusive studies.

Benefits of quitting smoking over time³

One day later : improvements in blood pressure and circulation.
One year later : The risk of suffering from heart disease halves compared to a person who continued to smoke.
Five to 15 years later : The risk of stroke is equivalent to a person who has never smoked.
Ten years later : compared to a person who continued to smoke, the risk of lung cancer is more than half the risk. The risk of developing other cancers is also reduced.
15 years later : The risks of heart disease and death in general are equivalent to a person who has never smoked.

Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net

According to Reuters.

1. Iso H, Date C, Yamamoto A, Toyoshima H, Watanabe Y, Kikuchi S, Koizumi A, et al, Smoking Cessation and Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease among Japanese Men and Woman: The JACC Study, American Journal of Epidemiology, January 2005, Vol. 162, No. 2, 170-9.

2. Twardella D, Kupper-Nybelen J, Rothenbacher D, Hahmann H, Wusten B, Brenner H, Short-term benefit of smoking cessation in patients with coronary heart disease: estimates based on self-reported smoking data and serum cotinine measurements, European Heart Journal, December 2004, Vol. 25, No 23, 2101-8.

3. Mackay J, Eriksen M, The Tobacco Atlas, World Health Organization (WHO), 2002, p. 82. Electronic version available at: http://www.who.int/tobacco/statistics/tobacco_atlas/en/.