Early age at smoking initiation is associated with elevated cardiovascular disease and mortality risk in a nationwide population-based cohort.

ABSTRACT: Smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. However, the role of age at smoking initiation in cardiovascular risk has not been fully established. We selected 9,295,979 Korean adults without preexisting cardiovascular diseases who underwent health screening in 2009. The association of age at initiation with incident MI, stroke, MI or stroke, and all-cause mortality was analyzed using Cox proportional hazard models stratified or adjusted for total pack-years (PY). Among the 3,724,368 smokers, 876,740 smokers (23.5%) started before age 20, and 75,299 smokers (2.0%) had age at initiation < 15. Over a nine-year follow-up, ≥ 20 PY smokers with age at initiation < 20 had the highest risks of MI (adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 2.43; 95% confid

SUBMITTER: Koh JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12830382 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature