Seventy percent of Chinese smokers think that the health risks of smoking are "negligible," only 4 percent believe there is a link between smoking and heart disease, and three out of four Chinese smokers say they have no plans to quit, Reuters reported April 2.

A review of research on Asian smoking patterns and beliefs led Rachel Huxley of The George Institute for International Health in Sydney, Australia and colleagues to call for greater public-health outreach and education to avert 160 million smoking-related deaths between now and 2050, mostly in China.

"As in the West, strategies designed to increase general awareness of the hazards associated with smoking, and the benefits derived from quitting, may help encourage the many smokers across Asia to quit the habit and, by doing so, prevent many of the large number of deaths predicted to occur if current smoking patterns persist," the researchers said.

Fifty-nine percent of Asian men are smokers, compared to 22 percent of men in Australia and New Zealand. While almost three-quarters of Chinese smokers said they plan to continue, two-thirds of male smokers in Australia and New Zealand say they want to quit.

The study was published online March 16, 2007 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.