The international health survey results were described as "shocking" by lead researcher Wilma Scholte op Reimer of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Holland.

Scholte op Reimer tracked the smoking habits of 5,551 heart-attack patients in Europe who were told that they were endangering their health by continuing to smoke. She said that many smokers either do not truly understand the risk or feel that the damage has already been done, so they continue to smoke.

"What many patients do not know is that if they stop smoking after a cardiovascular event the chance of having a fatal event within 10 years, or even after two or three years, would be on the same level as patients who did not smoke," she said.

Many of those who continued to smoke were under age 50.

Despite the findings, Scholte op Reimer said the best time to deliver stop-smoking warnings was right after a heart attack or surgery for heart disease.

The research was published online by the European Heart Journal.

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