Quitting smoking early significantly reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease

Smokers are three times more likely to die prematurely from heart disease than people who have never smoked. Cardiovascular risk linked to having been a smoker disappears completely if you stop in your thirties and almost completely if you stop around your forties.

The age at which a person starts smoking is an important factor, and those who start smoking young are at particularly high risk: they are three times more likely to die prematurely from heart disease or stroke. However, quitting smoking can significantly reduce this risk, especially when smokers quit young, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association[1].

Based on data collected between 1997 and 2014 from the annual U.S. National Health Interview Survey[2], the researchers looked at the medical histories, lifestyle habits, and demographics of smokers and nonsmokers. The study included nearly 400,000 adults, ages 25 to 74. The cohort included 58% never smokers, 23% former smokers, and 19% current smokers. Those who quit smoking before age 35 have the same risk of dying from heart disease or stroke as nonsmokers. For those who quit around age 40, this risk of premature death is reduced by about 90%. Proportionally, the later the quit, the greater the risk. Thus, the risk is reduced by only 68% for those who stopped between 45 and 54 years of age and by only 62% for those who stopped between 55 and 64 years of age.

For Dr. Blake Thompson, author of the study, " Stopping the next generation from smoking can save lives, but we must also stress that quitting smoking can save lives now and in the years to come… health policies should aim to stop young people from smoking and should clearly communicate the benefits of quitting ".

In addition to reducing risks to the brain and cardiovascular system, quitting smoking brings many other benefits. It reduces the risk of contracting certain cancers, strengthens the immune system and greatly improves respiratory capacity. Also, quitting smoking is always beneficial regardless of age. At age 60, it allows you to gain 3 years of life expectancy. It is also very beneficial for people who have already developed health problems related to their smoking. Smokers who quit smoking after a heart attack reduce the risk of a new attack by 50%.

In France, of the 75,000 deaths attributable to tobacco, 16,000 are due to cardiovascular diseases.[3].

Keywords: Health, quitting smoking, heart ©Generation Without Tobacco To go further Doll Richard, Peto Richard, Boreham Jillian, Sutherland Isabelle. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors, BMJ 2004; 328:1519 Pirie, Kirstin & Peto, Richard & Reeves, Gillian & Green, Jane & Beral, Valerie. (2012). The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: A prospective study of one million women in the UK. Lancet. 381. 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61720-6.

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[1] Blake Thomson, Jonathan Emberson, Ben Lacey, Richard Peto, Mark Woodward, and Sarah Lewington, Childhood Smoking, Adult Cessation, and Cardiovascular Mortality: Prospective Study of 390,000 US Adults, Journal of the American Heart Association. October 28, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.018431 [2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Health Interview Survey, consulted on November 4, 2020 [3] Christophe Bonaldi, Marjorie Boussac, Viet Nguyen-Thanh, Estimated number of deaths attributable to smoking in France from 2000 to 2015, Public Health France, March 15, 2019, no. 15, p. 278-284. http://beh.santepubliquefrance.fr/beh/2019/15/2019_15_2.html National Committee Against Smoking |