Smokers who survive a stroke are much more likely to suffer another stroke or a heart attack compared to non-smokers, a new study has found.

Some 10,000 people suffer a stroke every year in Ireland, with more than 2,000 people dying as a result.

Australian scientists followed the progress of almost 1,600 people who had suffered a stroke between 1996 and 1999, for 10 years. They focused on the most common type of stroke - ischaemic strokes - which are caused by blood clots.

They found that smokers who suffered a stroke had a 30% increased risk of having a poor outcome - another stroke, a heart attack or death - compared to non-smokers. Furthermore, among those who survived the first month after a stroke, smokers had a 42% increased risk of having a poor outcome, compared to non-smokers.

Meanwhile, the study also found that while past-smokers also had an increased risk of poor outcomes, this was less than the risk associated with current smokers. This indicates that quitting smoking before a stroke reduces the overall risk.

"This research provides fresh incentive to quit smoking now or never start because it shows smokers fare far worse after strokes than non-smokers. We also found smoking had its greatest impact on younger patients," the team from Monash University said.

Details of these findings are published in the medical journal, Stroke.