An international team of researchers concludes that smokers under the age of 40 are at high risk for heart disease, the BBC reported Aug. 24.

According to the study, smokers under age 40 are five times more likely to have a heart attack than their nonsmoking peers.

“Although young people may acknowledge the well-documented fact that cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, they, and even physicians, may think that this is only a concern in older age,” said Dr. Markku Mahonen of the KTL National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland. “There is a particular need for public-health programs and anti-smoking campaigns targeted at young people to keep them healthy, and specifically from our results, to prevent the particular tragedy of heart attack at a young age.”

For the study, researchers used data from the World Health Organization international monitoring study of cardiovascular disease (MONICA) and risk factors. They also examined records of non-fatal episodes of heart disease that occurred between 1985 and 1994.

Dr. Tim Bowker of the British Heart Foundation said the study should serve as “a profound warning to younger smokers that they are not only damaging their health for later years and cutting their lives short, but are also putting themselves at a significantly higher risk of having a heart attack before they even reach middle age. This evidence should encourage young smokers to think about today, not just tomorrow.”

The study’s findings are published in the journal Tobacco Control.