A study in the May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is reporting: 1"Approximately 64% of deaths among current smokers and 28% of deaths among former smokers were attributable to cigarette smoking."But there's good news. Many of the risks involved with smoking are reversible:
Very soon for heart disease:
"Most of the excess risk of vascular mortality due to smoking in women may be eliminated rapidly upon cessation."A little longer for lung diseases:
"Within 20 years for lung diseases."Much of the reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease occurred within the first five years after quitting. However, to reduce your risk for lung cancer and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), down to the risk for those who never smoked, you would need to have given up the habit for 30 years (lung cancer) and 20 years (COPD).
When researchers looked at the relationship between number of cigarettes smoked per day and increased risk of death, they found:
"The trend was less pronounced for deaths due to vascular disease, suggesting that the first few cigarettes account for most of the increased risk; in contrast, an increase in the number of cigarettes smoked per day substantially increased the risk of death from respiratory disease."So even if you only smoke a few cigarettes a day, you may be increasing your risk for a heart attack.
The researchers also found that smoking was associated with an increased risk for death from colorectal cancer.
These findings are based on data from 104,519 women who took part in the Nurses' Health Study. For this analysis participants were followed for 22 years.
1 Smoking and Smoking Cessation in Relation to Mortality in Women, JAMA, May 2008
