WEDNESDAY, Aug. 14, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- People who think they can escape the health hazards of tobacco by smoking just a bit or not inhaling are kidding themselves, Danish researchers say.
A 22-year-long study of more than 12,000 Copenhagen residents found the rate of heart attacks and death doubled for women who smoked three to five cigarettes a day and inhaled, or six to nine a day without inhaling.
Men got off a bit lighter, but they still doubled their risk of heart attack and death if they inhaled six to nine cigarettes a day. Smoking but not inhaling the same number of cigarettes increased their risk of heart attack and death 13 percent, says the report, which appears in the new Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The risk for women is greater for several reasons, the report says. Women seem to be more susceptible to respiratory disease than men, and smoking affects levels of estrogen, the female hormone that helps protect against heart disease.
But even light smoking is bad for both sexes, the researchers say.
"Although the effects of smoking are well known, smokers often assume that smoking just a few cigarettes or smoking without inhaling is not hazardous. The study emphasizes that even very limited tobacco consumption has detrimental health effects," says the report, which was based on a review of the Copenhagen City Heart Study.
The health threat applies to cigar smokers as well, the report says. The researchers measured risk in terms of grams of tobacco a day. A cigarette equates to one gram but a cigar accounts for five grams. About 20 percent of the women in the study smoked cigars, compared to 43 percent of the men.
The message about the dangers of light smoking is one that Americans, especially young people, should take to heart, says Dr. Nieca Goldberg, chief of cardiac prevention and death at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.
"Many young people say, 'Just a few cigarettes with my friends, that's no problem,' " Goldberg says. "This study shows that no matter how little you smoke or whether you inhale or not, smoking increases your risk of mortality."
The Danish researchers did not look at the incidence of lung cancer because "in order to get comparative death rates for lung cancer you need hundreds of thousands of people," says Dr. Michael Thun, head of epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society.
In general, Thun adds, "the data on light smoking are not as conclusive for lung cancer and hard to interpret because it is difficult to determine people's ability to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke a day."
Nevertheless, he says, "The basic message of the study is that there is a substantial risk for even a light smoker. It has been known for a long time that the real health payoff comes from quitting, and if you are smoking fewer cigarettes a day because you think it is an effective way to quit, that is useful. But it is actually quitting that reduces the risk."
What To Do
For more on the dangers of smoking, visit the American Heart Association. To learn more about lung cancer, check the American Cancer Society.
