Smoking 'triples deaths from the heart'
Channel: ANU TV
Date: 2019-07-03

Smoking is killing at least 17 Australians a day from preventable heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular conditions, new research led by The Australian National University (ANU) has found.

The study, the most in-depth in the world, shows for the first time how smoking harms all of the cardiovascular system - the heart and major blood vessels.  

Lead researcher, Professor Emily Banks from the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, said the study examined the impact of smoking for every possible cardiovascular disease.

The research team tracked around 190,000 Australian smokers and non-smokers participating in the Sax Institute's 45 and Up Study for 36 different types of cardiovascular disease over seven years.

The study found smoking also causes 11,400 coronary heart hospitalisations a year - 31 per day.