A study finds that smokers are about three times more likely to suffer a fatal stroke than nonsmokers.

A research team at Seoul National University Hospital said on Friday that its analysis of 426 patients shows that smokers were two-point-eight times more likely to suffer subarachnoid hemorrhages than nonsmokers.

A subarachnoid hemorrhage is a very serious type of stroke caused by bleeding in the space surrounding the brain. The condition has a death rate of around 50 percent.

The team advised people to quit smoking, saying that smoking increases blood pressure and leads to structural changes in blood vessels that will lead to a stroke.

The findings have appeared in the latest edition of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.