Years of Heavy Smoking Raises Heart Risks Tuesday 26th May 2009 HCFI: Heavy smokers are 2.5 times more likely to die than their non-smoking peers over the next thirty years said Dr KK Aggarwal President Heart Care Foundation of India and Director IMAAKN Sinha Institute. Non smokers live longer and experience fewer incidents of heart attack and cardiovascular disease than smokers, especially when compared with heavy smokers (those who lit up at least 20 cigarettes a day). Smokers are also at greater risk of developing diabetes and strokes than nonsmokers. There is cumulative long-term association between smoking and death and cardiovascular risk. In a study at the University of Oslo and Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 45 percent of males considered to be heavy smokers had died during the study period of thirty years compared with 18 percent of the men who never smoked; among the women, 33 percent of heavy smokers died while 13 percent of the non-smoking women did.  The questionnaire responses revealed that 21 percent of the heavy-smoking men had experienced a heart attack compared with 10 percent of their non-smoking peers. For women, the rate was similar: 11 percent among the heavy-smoking female survivors and 4 percent among those who never smoked.  The study underlines the public health messages about smoking.