Teen smoking linked to earlier death

Teenagers who smoke are more likely to die of heart disease decades down the line, even if they quit by the time they're middle-aged, researchers have found. Still, the worst off were people who started smoking in adolescence and kept up the habit their entire lives. They were twice as likely to die early as were non-smokers, according to findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "The risks are cumulative," said David Batty, who worked on the new study at University College London. "If you smoke across a life course, you're at much higher risk than if you just smoked around the college years," he told Reuters Health. "The positive message is, it's never too late to stop."