Health - One puff can cause heart attack

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BBC

Saturday, 3 March, 2001, 00:35 GMT 'One puff could cause heart attack'

Each cigarette poses a health risk Every cigarette has the potential to cause a heart attack, researchers have found.

It is well known that regular smoking increases the long-term risk of heart disease.

But now researchers have discovered that the short-term risk of a heart attack is increased by smoking.

This is because each cigarette appears to have a startling - and almost immediate - impact on the cardiovascular system.

Lead researcher Dr Murray Mittleman, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said: "The most important thing a person can do to avoid a heart attack is to quit smoking.

"There probably would be an immediate benefit."

Six hours

In a study of heart attack patients, the researchers found that those who smoked a cigarette within six hours of developing symptoms had bigger blood clots in their arteries than those who had not smoked for a longer period of time.

In general, the blood clot, or thrombus, that leads to a heart attack was larger in smokers than in non-smokers.

Larger clots increase both the risk and severity of heart attacks as it is more likely to block blood flow to the heart completely. The less blood that gets to the heart, the more severe the damage.

Researchers studied 902 heart attack patients who were given angiograms before the blocked artery was opened with balloon angioplasty or stenting.

The average clot size of those who smoked a cigarette in the six hours before their heart attack was 23 square millimetres.

In those who had smoked a cigarette between six and 24 hours before their attack the average clot size was 12.5 square millimetres.

And for those who had not smoked a cigarette within 24 hours of their attack, the average size was just 6.7 square millimetres.

'Never too soon'

A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation said the study could open up a new avenue of research.

"Within five years of kicking the habit, smokers can significantly reduce their risk of heart disease by half - and this research reflects the fact that it can never be too soon to quit."

Amanda Sandford, research manager for the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health said: "This study clearly demonstrates the importance of stopping smoking, particularly for anyone with heart disease.

"Smoking is like Russian roulette with worse odds. We already know that smokers are twice as likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers.

"This study explains why this happens and should be compulsory reading for all middle-aged smokers."

The research was presented at a conference of the American Heart Association.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

Answers

I am a cigarette smoker. My 94 year old aunt is a cigarette smoker and has been one since she was in her teens. I don't doubt that there are dangers involved in smoking, in the same way that I don't doubt that there are dangers involved in driving a car, or skiing. But, when it reaches the point of zealousness with the anti-smoking faction that they start to publish crap like the above, namely that one puff can create a heart attack, I have to laugh. Might as well tell folks that one pass down the lawn with a mower can cause a heart attack, or one short session with the snow shovel. Give me a break.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2001

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