How long does quitting smoking extend life?
From 1963 to 1992, health researchers collected information on the smoking habits of about 27,000 men and 41,000 women. The data (from surveys and office visits to doctors) included details of when the people started smoking and how much they smoked. The investigators tracked the causes of death in the group until 2008. Smokers who picked up the habit early in adulthood and did not quit ultimately lost a decade of life due to a variety of causes. However, those who quit by age 35 eliminated nearly all of the risk they would have faced if they continued to smoke.
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