Smokers may show heart disease much younger than nonsmokers

By Krystnell Storr NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A smoker's coronary artery disease is likely to be as advanced as that of a non-smoker who is 10 years older when both show up at the hospital with a heart attack, according to a new study. Researchers looked at nearly 14,000 patients hospitalized with blockages in arteries supplying the heart muscle and found smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to die within a year. Despite their being younger, and otherwise healthier, the smokers' heart arteries were in a condition similar to those of nonsmokers 10 years older. "We saw smokers presenting the disease at age 55 and nonsmokers presenting the same disease at 65," said Dr. Alexandra Lansky, a researcher on the study.

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