Tobacco Control and Smoking

Factsheets - Smoking Causes Heart Attacks

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Fact Sheet 7: Smoking causes heart attacks

Smoking causes heart attacks cigarette packet graphic warning picture.

Smoking is a major cause of heart disease. The two main outcomes of coronary or ischaemic heart disease are heart attack and angina.

Ischaemic heart disease is a condition that affects the supply of blood to the heart. The blood vessels are narrowed or blocked, which reduces the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the heart musculature, which is essential for proper functioning of the heart. This may eventually result in a portion of the heart being suddenly deprived of its blood supply, resulting in a heart attack and possibly leading to the death of that area of heart tissue.

Smokers have more heart attacks, repeat heart attacks and angina (over 20 times more angina) than non-smokers. Smokers also have heart attacks at a much younger age than non-smokers.³

People who smoke are up to four times more likely to die from coronary heart disease than non-smokers.⁴ The number of years you smoke and the number of cigarettes smoked increases this risk.¹ Each time you smoke (even just one cigarette) you make your heart work harder by:

Increasing your heart rate;
Decreasing the oxygen carried in your blood – with each inhalation of cigarette smoke, oxygen is replaced by carbon monoxide and other gases;
Short-term increase in blood pressure.^{3 1,}

Ischaemic heart disease (coronary heart disease) is one of the largest single causes of death in New Zealand and accounts for almost one-quarter of all deaths in this country.⁵ In 2004, there were 6,313 deaths in New Zealand from ischaemic heart disease, which accounted for 22.0 percent of all deaths that year. This included 3,204 deaths from heart attacks.⁶

Quitting smoking will reduce your chance of developing heart disease. After one year of not smoking your risk of heart disease is halved. Fifteen years after stopping smoking your risk of heart disease is the same as a non-smoker. ^3,7Even if you already have heart disease, stopping smoking is the single most important thing you can do to reduce your risk of further problems such as heart attacks.⁸

Smoking low-tar or low-nicotine cigarettes rather than regular cigarettes does not reduce the risk of heart disease.³ Smoking around your family can also affect their health. Non-smokers living with smokers have about a 25 to 30 percent increase in both the risk of heart disease and death from heart attack.^1,9,10

Want to quit smoking? The most important thing is to make a quit attempt. For help, talk to your doctor, pharmacist, quit smoking provider or call the Quitline on 0800 778 778 or visit The Quit Group web site at www.quit.org.nz

Sources:
1 Heart Foundation Australia. 2007. Positive Steps To Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease. http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/document/NHF/aheartforlife.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
2 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2004. Heart, stroke and vascular diseases – Australian facts 2004. AIHW Cat. No. CVD 27. Canberra: AIHW and National Heart Foundation of Australia (Cardiovascular series No. 22). http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/cvd/hsvd04/hsvd04.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
3 American Council on Science and Health. Cigarettes: What the warning label doesn't tell you. Second edition. New York, American Council on Science and Health, 2003. http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.206/pub_detail.asp (accessed 11/02/08)
4 US Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: what it means to you. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2004/00_pdfs/SGR2004_Whatitmeanstoyou.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
5 Hay DR. Cardiovascular disease in New Zealand 2004: a summary of recent statistical information. Technical Report Number 82. Auckland: National Heart Foundation of New Zealand; 2004. http://www.nhf.org.nz/files/NHF6949%20TechReport.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
6 Ministry of Health: New Zealand Health Information Service. 2007. Mortality 2004. Wellington, 2007. http://www.nzhis.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexns/stats (accessed 11/02/08)
7 Smoking Cessation Guidelines for Australian General Practice. 2004 Edition. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-publicat-document-smoking_cessation-cnt.htm/$FILE/smoking_cessation.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
8 Heart Foundation Australia. 2007. Coronary Heart Disease: Managing the Condition http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/Heart_Information/Heart_Conditions/CHD/Managing_the_Condition.htm (accessed 11/02/08)
9 Law M R, Morris J K, and Wald N J. 1997. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure and ischaemic heart disease: an evaluation of the evidence. BMJ, Oct 1997; 315: 973-980 http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/315/7114/973?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=law&fulltext=tobacco+smoke&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT (accessed 11/02/08)
10 Barnoya J, and Glantz S A. Cardiovascular Effects of secondhand smoke. Circulation. 2005; 111: 2684-2698. http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/111/20/2684 (accessed 11/02/08)

Page last updated: 27 March 2008