Tobacco and heart disease

Smoking tobacco products causes coronary heart disease, the second leading cause of death in Canada after cancer.Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 3

Key facts about tobacco use and heart disease

  • The risk of coronary heart disease increases with the number of years smoked and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Even smoking fewer than five cigarettes per day increases the risk of heart disease.Footnote 1Footnote 2Footnote 4Footnote 5Footnote 6
  • In 2020, over 53,000 Canadians died from heart disease.Footnote 7
  • In 2012, heart disease caused by smoking was responsible for 8,561 deaths in Canada.Footnote 8
  • People who smoke, are up to four times more likely to have a sudden cardiac death than someone who does not smoke.Footnote 9Footnote 10
  • People exposed to second-hand smoke are also at increased risk of coronary heart disease.Footnote 11

View health labels for cigarettes and little cigars.

What is heart disease?

Heart disease refers to a number of conditions affecting the structure and function of the heart. Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. It occurs when blood vessels become narrowed or blocked, starving the heart of blood and oxygen. This causes chest pain (referred to as angina), and shortness of breath that could result in a heart attack.

Treatment of coronary heart disease attempts to improve blood flow to the heart. Types of treatment include lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking, becoming more physically active, drug treatment, and interventions such as angioplasty or heart surgery.

How does tobacco use increase the risk of heart disease?

Smoking contributes to the inflammation of blood vessels in the arteries of the heart. In addition, smoking contributes to plaque buildup along the walls of arteries, known as atherosclerosis, causing the arteries to narrow. With time, the plaque can harden. This may cause the vessel to rupture, leading to the formation of blood clots.Footnote 1Footnote 2

How does quitting tobacco reduce the risk of heart disease?

After quitting, the risk of coronary heart disease decreases dramatically. Within 20 minutes, a person's heart rate and blood pressure drops. Within days, circulation improves. After 15 years, the risk of developing coronary heart disease is similar to someone who has never smoked.Footnote 12

Quitting reduces the development of atherosclerosis. The progression of atherosclerosis slows the longer someone who smoked remains smoke-free.Footnote 13

Quitting is one of the best ways to avoid the development of heart disease and other smoking-related diseases.Footnote 13

If someone who smokes has been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, quitting smoking will reduce their risk of negative cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and death.Footnote 13Footnote 15

Quitting after receiving coronary artery bypass surgery reduces the risk of re-hospitalization for heart disease.Footnote 17

Quitting also reduces the risk of dying from coronary heart disease.Footnote 14Footnote 17Footnote 18

Health benefits of quitting tobacco use at any age

Quitting tobacco use reduces the risk of premature death, improves health and enhances quality of life.Footnote 13 Quitting at any age is beneficial to health.Footnote 13 Even people who have smoked or used tobacco heavily for many years benefit from it.Footnote 2Footnote 13 Quitting is the most important thing someone who smokes can do to improve their health.

Read more about the benefits of quitting smoking.

For help to quit

Free quit counselling, coaching and other services in your province or territory

Find services to quit smoking

Footnotes

Footnote 1

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking. A Report of the Surgeon General: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2004.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Statistics Canada. Table 102-0561 - Leading causes of death, total population, by age group and sex, Canada. Ottawa, ON. Statistics Canada; 2017. Available at: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&id=1020561.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

Burns D, Shanks T, Choi W, et al. The American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study #1: 12-year follow-up on one million men and women. In: Burns D, Garfinkel L, Samet J, editors. Changes in cigarette-related disease risks and their implication for prevention and control. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph no. 8. NIH Pub. No. 97-4213. Bethesda (MD): US Department of Health and Human Services / National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute; 1997.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

Rosengren A, Wilhelmsen L, Wedel H. Coronary heart disease, cancer and mortality in male middle-aged light smokers. Journal of Internal Medicine. 1992;231:357-362. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1992.tb00944.x.

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote 6

Kawachi I, Colditz GA, Stampfer J, et al. Smoking cessation and time course of decreased risks of coronary heart disease in middle-aged women. 1994;154(2):169-175. doi:10.1001/archinte.1994.00420020075009.

Return to footnote 6 referrer

Footnote 7

Statistics Canada Table: 13-10-0394-01 (formerly CANSIM 102-0561). Leading causes of death, total population, by age group. Statistics Canada.

Return to footnote 7 referrer

Footnote 8

Dobrescu A, Bhandari A, Sutherland G, Dinh T. The costs of tobacco use in Canada, 2012. The Conference Board of Canada; 2017. https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/3bcfb009-01c7-4a14-abd4-8d6d328218e2/9185_Costs-Tobacco-Use_RPT.pdf

Return to footnote 8 referrer

Footnote 9

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: Cardiovascular Disease. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 1983.

Return to footnote 9 referrer

Footnote 10

Albert CM, Chae CU, Grodstein F, Rose LM, Rexrode KM, Ruskin JN, et al. Prospective study on sudden cardiac death among women in the United States. Circulation. 2003;107(16): 2096-101. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.000065223.21530.11.

Return to footnote 10 referrer

Footnote 11

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking an Health; 2006.

Return to footnote 11 referrer

Footnote 12

World Health Organization. Tobacco: Health benefits of smoking cessation. World Health Organization; 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/tobacco-health-benefits-of-smoking-cessation

Return to footnote 12 referrer

Footnote 13

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2020.

Return to footnote 13 referrer

Footnote 14

Kuller LH, Ockene JK, Meilahn E, Wentworth DN, Svendsen KH, Neaton JD. Cigarette Smoking and mortality. Preventive Medicine. 1991;20(5):638-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/0091-7435(91)90060-H

Return to footnote 14 referrer

Footnote 15

International Agency for Research on Cancer. IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Tobacco Control, Vol. 11: Reversal of Risk After Quitting Smoking. Lyon (France); 2007.

Return to footnote 15 referrer

Footnote 16

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 1990.

Return to footnote 16 referrer

Footnote 17

Cavender JB, Rogers WJ, Fisher LD, Gersh BJ, Coggin CJ, Myers WO. Effects of smoking on survival and morbidity in patients randomized to medical or surgical therapy in the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS): 10-year follow-up. CASS Investigators. Journal of the American College of Cardiology.1992;20(2):287-294. doi: 10.1016/0735-1097(92)90092-2.

Return to footnote 17 referrer

Footnote 18

Frost PH, Davis BR, Burlando AJ, Curb JD, Guthrie GP, Isaacsohn JL, et al. Coronary heart disease risk factors in men and women aged 60 years and older: findings from the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program. Circulation. 1996;94(1):26-34. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.94.1.26.

Return to footnote 18 referrer

Page details

Date modified: