The study, published in Stroke, found that in China cigarette smoking accounted for 14.2 percent of strokes and 7.1 percent of stroke fatalities in men, and 3.1 percent of strokes and 2.4 percent of stroke deaths in women.

"This study shows that smoking prevention and cessation could be an important approach to reducing the societal burden of stroke," lead study author Dr. Jiang He of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine said in a statement.

Researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (OTCBB:MCLS) in Beijing studied a representative sample of 83,533 men and 86,336 women, 40 years and older, from 17 provinces in mainland China. The participants were part of the third China National Hypertension Survey.

"The study findings were consistent with reports from other populations, but in China this risk creates a huge public health problem," said He. "In addition to being the world's most populous nation, China is the world's leading producer and consumer of cigarettes."