(ANSA) - ROME, AUGUST 25 - Smoking causes direct damage to the heart and not only to blood vessels.
This is the message that comes from a study coordinated by the Herlev and Gentofte Hospital in Copenhagen (Denmark) which will be presented at the annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), scheduled in Barcelona from 26 to 29 August.
The study enrolled 3,874 people between the ages of 20 and 99, 18.6% were smokers, 40.9% were former smokers, and 40.5% had never smoked.
The researchers then compared the echocardiographic measurements of smokers with those of non-smokers and found that, compared with non-smokers, those who still smoked had thickened, weaker hearts and difficulty pumping blood.
"Smoking is known to cause clogging of the arteries, leading to coronary heart disease and stroke," explains Eva Holt, author of the study.
"Our research shows that smoke also causes thickening and weakening of the hearts.
This means that smokers have less blood volume in the left heart chamber and less energy to spread it into the rest of the body. The more you smoke, the worse your heart function becomes." added the researcher.
"The good news is that by quitting smoking, the heart can recover some of this damage. It is never too late to quit," concludes Holt.
(HANDLE).