Smoking is a bad habit that can increase the risk of various diseases and increases the risk of dying prematurely. Although it should not be started, leaving it on time could prevent greater evils, based on this, a study by the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) has focused on knowing what is the age limit at which the risk of dying from tobacco use.
The results, which have been published in the journal JAMA Network Open, indicated that quitting smoking before the age of 35 could match the risk of death over time to those who have never smoked. And it is that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), a year after quitting tobacco the risk of coronary disease is reduced by 50%, in five years the risk of stroke is the same as that of a non-smoker and after 10 years have a lower risk of lung cancer.
“Among men and women of various racial and ethnic groups, current smoking was associated with at least twice the rate of all-cause mortality than never smoking. Smoking cessation, particularly at younger ages, was associated with substantial reductions in the relative excess mortality associated with continuing to smoke.
White smokers had three times higher mortality risk
But the results did not stop there, and went a step further. What if I’m over 35 and I smoke? In that case, it is best to quit as soon as possible, because according to the data collected, former smokers who quit this bad habit between the ages of 35 and 44 had a 21% higher mortality rate than those who had never smoked. .
People who quit smoking between the ages of 45 and 54 had a 47% higher death rate than non-smokers
This death risk figure increased to 47% in people who quit smoking between the ages of 45 and 54, so it is important to quit as soon as possible to avoid further damage. The study was carried out thanks to a series of questionnaires administered to more than 550,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 84 who filled them out between 1997 and the end of 2018. The group included smokers, ex-smokers and people who had either never smoked or had consumed less than 100 cigarettes in his life.
Of the total respondents, nearly 75,000 had died by the end of 2019, and those who smoked had a markedly higher all-cause mortality rate, as well as higher rates of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and lung disease.
The highest death rates, three times higher, were for non-Hispanic white smokers, compared with never smokers. Non-white smokers, including Hispanics and non-Hispanics, had slightly lower death rates, about double those of never smokers.
According to the researchers, this could be because non-white participants reported smoking fewer cigarettes per day on average, started smoking at older ages, and were less likely to smoke daily, compared to white individuals.
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