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Quitting smoking at any age brings big health benefits, fast: study:
People who quit smoking see major gains in life expectancy after just a few years, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers at Unity Health Toronto.
The study, published in NEJM Evidence, shows that smokers who quit smoking before age 40 can expect to live almost as long as those who never smoked. Those who quit at any age return close to never-smoker survival 10 years after quitting, and about half that benefit occurs within just three years.
[...] Former smokers lowered their risk of death to 1.3-fold (or 30 per cent higher) compared to never smokers. Stopping smoking at any age was associated with longer survival, and even those who quit for less than three years gained up to six years in life expectancy.
"Many people think it's too late to quit smoking, especially in middle age," said Jha. "But these results counter that line of thought. It's never too late, the impact is fast and you can reduce risk across major diseases, meaning a longer and better quality of life."
The researchers found that quitting smoking reduced the risk of dying from vascular disease and cancer, in particular. Former smokers also reduced their risk of death from respiratory disease, but slightly less so, likely due to residual lung damage.
Journal Reference:
Eo Rin Cho, Ilene K. Brill, Inger T. Gram, et al., Smoking Cessation and Short- and Longer-Term Mortality, NEJM Evidence, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1056/EVIDoa2300272
(Score: 5, Insightful) by BlueCoffee on Wednesday February 28 2024, @06:40PM (2 children)
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001801.htm [cdc.gov]
If a serious study about benefits of quitting smoking at any age can be done in 2024(30-40 years after everyone knew about the benefits), and the public thinks this is new news in 2024, then schools & colleges really have turned to shit.
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Wednesday February 28 2024, @09:36PM
I think the issue here is that the results are larger than what most people think. A relatively quick skim of that article is fairly vague. It does say that quitting does have an impact, but there's less detail about how much of an impact and with fewer studies.
That being said, AFAICT, it's not too late to quit until you've already got cancer or a similar smoking-related illness in its more advanced stages.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 29 2024, @07:32PM
That's fine but do you also think there is a "replication crisis" in science?