A huge study has revealed at what age one must stop smoking to prevent early death

A study that included half a million people found that there is a recommended age for quitting smoking, and if you quit before that, you will not increase your risk of early death.

So did you miss the train?

Voila system!

health

10/28/2022

Friday, October 28, 2022, 08:27 Updated: 08:54

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

This is what it looks like when you clean the damage of 21 years of smoking from the walls (@camelgum.)

Everyone who smokes knows it's unhealthy, but what if they gave you a deadline by which you could quit smoking and still maintain your health?

Or at least not die sooner than expected.

A new study has found that cigarette smokers who quit before the age of 35 have similar mortality rates within a given period of time to those who have never smoked.

Those who quit smoking at later ages still saw significant benefits, the study found, but their death rates exceeded those who quit before age 35.

For example, former smokers who quit between ages 35 and 44 showed a 21 percent higher death rate from any cause, Compared to those who have never smoked.

And those who quit between the ages of 45 and 54 showed a 47 percent higher all-cause mortality rate than those who had never smoked.

"Among men and women of diverse racial and ethnic groups, smoking was associated with at least twice the all-cause mortality rate of those who had never smoked," the study authors wrote in a new report, published in the journal JAMA.

"Quitting smoking, especially at younger ages, was associated with a significant reduction in the relative excess mortality associated with continued smoking."

This is the third major study to suggest that age 35 may be the optimal age to quit smoking, especially for those who start smoking young.

Age 35 may be the optimal age to quit smoking.

A smoking man (Photo: ShutterStock, By vchal)

The new study used data from the US National Health Interview Survey, a questionnaire-based survey used to monitor the health of the US population, and the National Death Index, a database of death records.

The analysis included survey data from more than 550,000 adults who filled out questionnaires between January 1997 and December 2018 and were between the ages of 25 and 84 when they joined.

These included current smokers, ex-smokers and those who were defined as "never smoked" but had actually smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.

According to the National Death Index, nearly 75,000 of these subjects had died by the end of 2019. Compared to never smokers, current smokers showed a significantly higher all-cause mortality rate, overall, as well as higher cancer mortality rates.

Heart disease and lung disease, especially.

White non-Hispanic smokers had the highest all-cause mortality rate, which was three times higher than that of never smokers.

Non-white smokers, including Hispanic and non-Hispanic people, have slightly lower death rates, about twice that of never smokers.

This may be related to the fact that these participants reported smoking fewer cigarettes per day, on average;

started smoking at older ages and were less likely to smoke daily, compared to white subjects.

"These results remind us that reducing the intensity of smoking (cigarettes per day) should be one of the goals of smoking prevention programs," the report states.

Stop as soon as possible.

Cigarettes (Photo: ShutterStock)

Crucially, while smoking was associated with a higher risk of death in all racial and ethnic groups surveyed, "smoking cessation was associated with substantially opposite risks for all groups," the study authors wrote.

In particular, those who quit by age 45 reduced their excess risk of early death by up to 90 percent, and those who quit before age 35 showed mortality rates very close to those who had never smoked.

Similarly, the study also found that the longer it had been since a person stopped smoking, the closer their death rate was to that of a person who had never smoked.

The 35-year-old target date may be a potential motivator for young smokers who are working towards quitting, the commentary said.

But of course, all is not lost after the age of 35 - as the study suggests, taking a break at older ages still reduces the risk of death, just not dramatically.

The study has several limitations.

For example, the information about subjects' smoking habits was collected at a certain point in time, so some subjects stopped smoking or started smoking after being tested.

"Therefore, this study may underestimate both the real dangers of smoking and the real benefits of quitting," the authors warned.

Nevertheless, the research still suggests that quitting smoking greatly reduces the risk of early death - especially if you quit young."

• health

• news

Tags

• smoking