New Study Shows Quitting Smoking Provides Enormous and Rapid Benefits Against the Risk of Death at Any Age
A new study has shown that quitting smoking provides enormous and rapid benefits against the risk of death at any age, not just when young. This is how many years of life you “gain” by saying enough to cigarettes.
Quitting smoking offers enormous benefits, drastically reducing the risk of premature death. This is not only true for those who say enough is enough young, but at any age, contrary to what many people think. Many men and women of middle age believe that after many years of cigarettes “now the damage is done”, so they use this sort of excuse to continue with the harmful vice, without even trying to get rid of it. But things are not like that at all. As demonstrated by a new study, in fact, quitting smoking offers benefits to all ages, significantly reducing the risk of dying early. Scientists have proven that after quitting, at any age, the risk of losing your life ten years later – for tumors, cardiovascular, respiratory diseases and more – is almost comparable to that of those who have never smoked in their life.
An international research team led by Canadian scientists from the “Dalla Lana” School of Public Health in Toronto, who collaborated closely with colleagues from the Department of Medicine, determined that quitting smoking reduces the risk of death at any age. The researchers, coordinated by Professor Prabhat Jha, executive director of the Center for Global Health Research at Unity Health Toronto, reached their conclusions after statistically analyzing health data from 1.48 million adults of four countries: Canada, Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The follow-up period lasted 15 years during which there were 122,697 deaths.
Comparing cohorts of current smokers, non-smokers, and former smokers (from less than 3 years, from 3 to 9 years, and from 10 years or more), taking into account risk factors such as age, alcohol consumption, obesity, and more, those who smoked regularly had an almost triple risk of death compared to non-smokers (2.8 for women and 2.7 for men). On average, smokers between the ages of 40 and 79 had a shorter survival of 12 years (women) and 13 years (men) compared to those who had never taken a puff of a cigarette. The years of life lost came up to 26 for those who died from causes closely related to smoking habits. These data are a wake-up call for any smoker, but it is comforting to know that those who quit smoking can largely recover. Suffice it to say that those who quit before the age of 40, based on data from the new study, may have a life expectancy close to that of someone who has never smoked.
Quitting smoking for less than 3 years was associated with a 95 percent lower excess risk in women and a 90 percent lower excess risk in men under 40. For women and men between 40 and 49 years old, the reduction was respectively 81 percent and 61 percent, while for those aged 50 to 59, the reduction was 63 percent and 54 percent. Quitting smoking at any age was associated with longer survival, particularly quitting before age 40. Quitting for less than 3 years resulted in the potential avoidance of 5 years of life lost, while quitting for 10 years or more led to survival similar to that of non-smokers.
“Quitting smoking is extraordinarily effective at reducing the risk of death, and people can reap these benefits extraordinarily quickly,” Professor Prabhat Jha said in a press release. “Many people think it’s too late to quit smoking, especially in middle age. But these results counter this line of thinking. It is never too late, the impact is rapid and you can reduce the risk of major diseases, which means a longer and better quality of life”, commented the scientist, adding that helping people to stop smoking is one of the more effective ways to improve people’s health. The doctor also stresses that this support must be provided with concern, without judgment or stigma, given that cigarettes are designed “to be highly addictive.” The details of the research “Smoking Cessation and Short- and Longer-Term Mortality” were published in the scientific journal NEJM Records.