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Quitting
smoking: Sooner is best, but later is better
than not at all
(This article was first printed in the October
2004 issue of the Harvard Health Letter.
For more information or to order, please go
to www.health.harvard.edu/health.)
A study of 35,000 British male doctors and their
smoking habits stands out as perhaps one of the
most important ever. When early results were
published in 1954, it was the first really solid
evidence that smoking causes lung cancer. On
June 26 of this year, 50 years to the day after
that initial report, the British Medical
Journal published an article summarizing
a half century’s worth of mortality data
on the British physicians. Some of the key points:
- Nonsmokers live about 10 years longer than
smokers.
- Quitting at age 60, 50, 40, or 30 adds, respectively,
3, 6, 9, or 10 years to life expectancy.
- The life expectancy of ex-smokers is just
about the same as it is for those who never
smoked if they quit between the ages of 35
and 44.
Even quitting between the ages of 55 and 64
helps ex-smokers live longer than smokers, although
their life expectancy lags behind those who never
smoked.
(This article was first printed in the October
2004 issue of the Harvard Health Letter.
For more information or to order, please go
to www.health.harvard.edu/health.)
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