European researchers have reported that smoking not only impacts a person’s blood vessels but also weakens the structure of the heart itself – affecting how well it functions – while quitting smoking helped the heart recuperate.
Danish scientists at the Copenhagen’s Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, who presented their findings at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2022, evaluated data from over 3,800 participants aged 20-93 who did not have a history of heart disease.
Lead author Dr Eva Holt told medicalnewstoday.com: ‘We know smoking causes coronary artery disease and heart failure. (Smoking doubles a person’s heart attack risk and triples their stroke risk.) But the aim of this study was to investigate if smoking had an independent effect on cardiac structure and function in a large general population without heart disease.’
The study found:
- current smokers in the participant pool had hearts ‘thicker, heavier and weaker compared to those who had never smoked’;
- a correlation between increased cigarette ‘pack years’ (1 ‘pack- year’ equals 20 cigarettes smoked every day for 1 year) and the heart’s decreased ability to pump blood.
Dr Holt noted: ‘We found current smoking and accumulated pack-years were associated with worsening of the structure and function of the left heart chamber – the most important part of the heart.’ (The left ventricle is the main ‘pumping chamber’ of the heart.)
Dr Holt’s team also reported evidence that quitting smoking can help the heart recuperate to some degree and she noted: ‘The result that the heart seems to regain former structure and function after smoking cessation might be a valuable motivation to give the patient to stop smoking.’
