Smoking just one cigarette a day increases heart attack and stroke risk by 50% for men

Just one cigarette a day is enough to raise the risk of heart disease and stroke by around 50 per cent. Researchers have found those who smoke once a day expose themselves to fully half the risk of heart disease and stroke seen in people who smoke 20 cigarettes.

Men who smoked one cigarette a day had 46 per cent of the increased risk of heart disease seen in people who smoked 20. Their danger of a stroke was 41 per cent of that seen in 20-a-day smokers.

Just one cigarette raised their risk of coronary heart disease by 48 per cent compared to being a non-smoker.

Women meanwhile saw their heart disease risk more than double with one cigarette a day, compared to if they did not smoke at all. he review of more than 140 scientific studies was led by Professor Allan Hacksaw from the UCL Cancer Institute at University College London, and states: ‘No safe level of smoking exists for cardiovascular disease. ‘Smokers should quit instead of cutting down, using appropriate cessation aids if needed, to significantly reduce their risk of these two common major disorders.’ Those who smoke just once every 24 hours may assume their risk of health problems is minimal. That is certainly the case for lung cancer, where one cigarette has approximately five per cent of the risk of smoking 20 of them. But the review found cutting down significantly has little effect on the risk of heart disease or stroke, which appears to be higher for women than men. Women’s heart disease risk was more than doubled with one cigarette per day, according to one analysis in the research.

The researchers say their findings have important consequences for many smokers and health professionals who believe that smoking only a few cigarettes carries little or no harm. ‘This probably comes as a surprise to many people. But there are also biological mechanisms that help explain the unexpectedly high risk associated with a low level of smoking.’

People who smoke 20 cigarettes a day double their risk of heart attack and stroke (100% increased risk)

Women who smoke just one a day also have double the risk, a UCL study shows

For men, one cigarette a day increases their risk by 50%, the study found.

Photo: Researchers at UCL have found those who smoke once a day expose themselves to fully half the risk of heart disease and stroke seen in people who smoke 20 cigarettes.