The researchers found that half of all Chinese smokers and one-third of Indian and Vietnamese smokers were unaware that smoking causes heart disease. Across a wide range of countries, including India, Uruguay, South Korea and Poland, around half of all smokers ‘€“ and over 70% of all Chinese smokers ‘€“ did not know that smoking causes stroke.

Awareness of the risk of second-hand smoke is even lower. In Vietnam, nearly 90% of smokers and non-smokers are unaware that second-hand smoke causes heart disease. In China, 57% of smokers and non-smokers were unaware of the link. Even in countries with well-developed health systems and tobacco control regulation ‘€“ such as Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia ‘€“ between a third and a half of smokers do not know that second-hand smoke can damage cardiovascular health.

Ignorance linked to prevalence

‘€œThis report shows a broad correlation between poor knowledge of the risks of tobacco use and high levels of smoking prevalence,’€ said Professor Geoffrey T. Fong at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and Chief Principal Investigator of the International Tobacco Control Project (ITC Project). ‘€œTo break this link and reduce the deadly toll of tobacco, more needs to be done to increase awareness of the specific health harms.

‘€œOur research shows that the risks of tobacco use to lung health are very widely accepted. But we need to attain the same level of knowledge and awareness that tobacco use can cause heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease and second-hand smoke can cause heart attack. Health warning labels are known to be an effective method for educating the public on the health harms of tobacco products. A number of countries have introduced warnings about the increased risk of heart disease or heart attack, but no country has yet implemented a label to warn people that second-hand smoke causes heart disease. Increasing knowledge of these specific health risks will help encourage smokers to quit and help non-smokers protect themselves, so raising awareness is an important step in reducing people’s exposure to tobacco smoke.’€

Heart disease world’€™s biggest killer

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s leading cause of death, killing 17.3 million people every year. As many as 80% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, which are increasingly being targeted by the tobacco industry. Tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure causes about one-tenth of global deaths from CVD.

Even smoking a few cigarettes a day significantly increases the risk of heart disease. Smokeless tobacco products have also been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Second-hand smoke exposure increases the risk of heart disease by 25% and more than 87% of worldwide adult deaths caused by second-hand smoke are attributable to CVD.

‘€œIf people don’t know about the cardiovascular effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, they cannot understand how much or how quickly smokers are endangering not only their own lives, but those of family members, friends, co-workers or other non-smokers who breathe tobacco smoke,’€ said Johanna Ralston, CEO of World Heart Federation.

‘€œIn countries like India or China, so many people are at high risk for heart attack or stroke, and it strikes at a relatively early age: risks of CVD are far more present and immediate than most of the better-known fatal effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure. Knowing about cardiovascular risks of tobacco will help smokers take quitting seriously, and encourage people to demand and comply with policies that protect everyone from the harms of tobacco. The World Heart Federation calls on governments around the world to a make these policies an immediate priority, as they committed to do last year through the Political Declaration of the United Nations’ High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases.’€

Report proves people are uninformed  

‘€œThis report provides conclusive proof that the level of information people have about the cardiovascular harms of tobacco use and second-hand smoke is still insufficient and therefore mass media campaigns and warnings are urgently needed to make people aware of these lethal harms,’€ said Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of the World Health Organisation’s Tobacco Free Initiative.

‘€œIn fact, to avoid the enormous toll of needless deaths caused by tobacco use, a special UN high level meeting on non-communicable diseases recently called upon parties of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to accelerate implementation of this Convention, recognising the full range of measures, including measures to reduce tobacco consumption and availability. I hope that this report will boost the sense of urgency that world leaders and the public health community are trying to instil into the implementation of the WHO FCTC. This will mean the difference between death and life for almost six million people each year.’€

Source: EurekAlert!