Smoking, Mortality, Reversal

Time to quit cigarettes is now. The craving may last a year or two but the damages sustained from smoking may take 20 years to reverse completely. According to a study from Harvard and Washington University School of Medicine, the excess risk of death in female smokers who have quit cigarettes decreases rapidly for vascular causes and in 20 years for lung disease.

This study assessed the relationship between cigarette smoking and smoking cessation on total and cause-specific mortality in women. More than 100,000 women were evaluated from 1980 to 2004. In this cohort, there were 12 483 deaths, of which 4485 (36%) were among never smokers, 3602 (29%) were among current smokers, and 4396 (35%) were among past smokers. Causes of mortality were categorized into vascular and respiratory diseases, lung cancer, other cancers, and other causes.

Compared with never smokers, current smokers had an increased risk of total mortality and all major cause-specific mortality. Approximately 64% of deaths among current smokers and 28% of deaths among former smokers were attributable to cigarette smoking. In addition there was a significant association between an earlier age of initiating smoking and all smoking-related cancer deaths. A trend was seen between smoking and colorectal cancer but not with ovarian cancer mortality.

A similar study is being done in a population of men. However, chances are that the results will not be very different from the findings in this study. If you are smoking now, stop. The body will start reversing the damages rapidly but it may take 20 years to reach the level of a person who has never smoked.

Resources to stop smoking.

References: JAMA. 2008;299(17):2037-2047.