A Cigarette A Day Triples Heart Disease And Lung Cancer Risk

A new study published in the British Medical Journal has shown that just one to four cigarettes a day triples a smoker's risk of dying from heart disease and lung cancer, with women more likely to be affected by the habit.

The study also quashes the notion that 'light' smokers escape the serious health problems faced by heavier smokers.

Researchers tracked the health and death rates of almost 43,000 men and women aged between 35 and 49 from the mid 1970s up to 2002.

Although a significant proportion of the light smokers increased their daily consumption, this had not exceeded 9 cigarettes a day. Almost as many had given up as had increased their consumption.

Compared with those who had never smoked, those who smoked between 1 and 5 cigarettes a day were almost three times as likely to die of coronary artery disease or lung cancer. And women were almost five times as likely to die of the disease as their non-smoking peers.

Light smokers also had significantly higher death rates from all causes - 1.5 times - than those who had never smoked, with the death rates corresponding to the number of cigarettes smoked every day.

As the light smokers had smoked for fewer years than the heavy smokers, the researchers analysed the projected impact of smoking at this level for five years. This indicated that the risk of death from coronary artery disease would have been 7 percent higher, and the risk of lung cancer would have been 47 percent higher in women.