The younger smokers are when they pick up the habit, the sooner they are likely to be diagnosed with smoking related health problems such as heart disease, according to a new study released by Statistics Canada.

The study found the onset of at least one of three diseases -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease or rheumatoid arthritis -- was highest among smokers who had started puffing daily in adolescence.

By age 60, 32 per cent of men who had become daily smokers between the ages of 13 and 17 had been diagnosed with one of these conditions.

Additionally, 24 per cent of men who had become daily smokers when they were aged 18 to 22, and 14 per cent for those who had never smoked were found to be suffering from one of the diseases.

Among women, the estimated percentages were even higher at 41 per cent, 29 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively.

The study, based on data from the 2000-2001 Canadian Community Health Survey, compared daily smokers aged 35 to 64 with their contemporaries who had never smoked.

The risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among those who started smoking when they were adolescents was three times that of those who never picked up the habit.

For smokers who began as young adults, the risk was about twice as high as for those who never smoked.

And among women, the risk of being diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was significantly higher for those who started smoking when they were adolescents than for those who started when they were young adults.

The relationship between early smoking and heart disease was similar. Adolescent puffers had about twice the risk of heart disease diagnosis, compared with those who never smoked.

Among men, but not women, the risk compared with those who never smoked was also significantly higher for young adult smokers. As well, the heart disease risk for men was significantly higher among adolescent starters than among young adult starters.

Smokers also had a significantly higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis than did those who had never smoked. However, the risk was not significantly higher for adolescent starters than for young adult starters.

With a report from Statistics Canada