Heart Health
It's never too late to quit smoking
Heart beat
It's never too late to quit smoking
If you have been smoking so long that you think it's too late to quit, think again. A study in the Jan. 24, 2013, New England Journal of Medicine illustrated that quitting at any age has big benefits—and continuing to smoke carries huge risks. The study reviewed causes of death and smoking status in 202,248 adults ages 25 and older. Those who quit smoking added four to 10 years to their life, depending on their age at the time they quit. Those who continued to smoke, however, had three times the risk of dying than those who had never smoked and could expect to lose a decade of life.
A second article in the same issue confirmed that women who smoke have the same odds of dying from heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and emphysema as men who smoke. Although cutting back on the number of cigarettes smoked didn't make a difference, quitting smoking at any age dramatically lowered the risk of dying from smoking-related disease. The risk can be eliminated by quitting before age 40.
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