A new study shows that as few as 100 cigarettes over the course of someone’s life could be enough to raise their risk of heart disease and death.
Researchers examined the smoking habits of over 300,000 adults for nearly two decades. They discovered that men and women who smoked as few as two cigarettes a day had a 60% higher risk of death from any cause compared to those who never smoked.
This group also had a 50% higher risk of heart disease, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
“Tobacco use is a very well-established risk factor for heart disease,” said Dr. Jennifer Miao, a cardiologist at Yale University, per ABC News. “It really damages the blood vessel lining and it accelerates the development of plaques and coronary artery disease.”
Miao also says smoking is connected to heart rhythm issues, like atrial fibrillation and stroke.
Regrettably, the study found that reducing smoking may not be enough to reverse the harm. While current smokers had a higher risk of death than former smokers, former smokers still possessed an elevated risk of heart disease even two decades after they quit.
In the United States, smoking rates have fallen substantially in recent decades. In 1965, roughly 42% of adults in the country smoked, according to the American Lung Association. By 2022, that number had plummeted to around 12%. However, the number of people smoking fewer than 15 cigarettes per day actually increased during that period, rising 85%.
Dr. Efran Tasdighi, co-author of the study and internal medicine physician at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said Americans should be encouraged to quit completely, not just cut back.
“We actually have the evidence … to say that even less than one cigarette a day can increase different multiple cardiovascular outcomes, and it’s not something that’s clinically insignificant,” Tasdighi said.
Still, Miao acknowledged just difficult stopping can be.
“It’s very, very important for us as clinicians to acknowledge that it’s a lot easier said than done,” she said.
Miao noted that people should be aware that when they quit smoking, “their risk goes down immediately and significantly.”