Smoking remains one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease worldwide.
It is well documented that the risk of heart attack and stroke increases with the number of years and the amount a person smokes.
Nevertheless, there are indications that this explanation does not stand on its own.
In many countries, a large proportion of smokers begin before the age of 20.
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It has long been unclear whether an early start in itself poses additional health risks, or whether it simply results in a longer lifetime of tobacco use.
A large dataset
A new study published in Scientific Reports has analysed health data from more than nine million adults in South Korea.
The participants were enrolled in a national health programme and had no prior cardiovascular disease at the start of the study.
The researchers used information on smoking habits, including age at smoking initiation and total tobacco consumption, together with data on, among other factors, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and lifestyle.
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Participants were followed for nearly nine years to determine who experienced a heart attack, stroke, or died.
Early smoking initiation
The analysis shows that individuals who began smoking before the age of 20 had a higher risk of serious cardiovascular events and death than individuals who smoked the same amount but started later.
This means that two people with the same level of smoking do not face the same risk if one started significantly earlier.
According to the researchers, adolescence may be a particularly vulnerable period during which the body sustains greater damage from nicotine.
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Preventing smoking initiation among young people may therefore have substantial importance for public health.
Sources: News Medical, and Scientific Reports.
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