Light smoking 'doubles sudden heart death risk in women'

Women who are light smokers - including those who smoke just one cigarette a day - double their chance of sudden death, a large study suggests.

The research tracked the health of 101,000 US nurses over three decades, BBC reports.

Light-to-moderate smokers were twice as likely to die of sudden heart problems than those who had never smoked.
But those who quit smoking saw their risk begin to go back down within years, a journal of the American Heart Association reports.

During the study, there were 315 sudden cardiac deaths - where the heart unexpectedly stops working.

In people aged 35 or younger, this is usually because of a heart condition that runs in the family.

But in people who are older than this - as most of the nurses in the study were - it can be the first sign of coronary heart disease, where the heart's arteries become blocked by fatty deposits.

Of the 315 sudden deaths in the study, 75 were among current smokers, 148 were among recent or past smokers and 128 occurred in people who had never smoked.