A study published on November 30th in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that people who quit smoking, even at 60, are more likely to live longer lives than those who continued smoking.
Today, we know cigarettes to be the great culprits that induce fatal diseases, yet some are still finding it hard to call it quits. For older smokers, one of the most famous arguments is: at that age, why bother?
Yet, the new study show that even if a person quits after 60 years old, the cessation continues to impact mortality years down the line.
The study gathered data from over 160,113 participants between 2004 and 2005. People were asked to report the frequency of cigarette smoking, the age when they started smoking and how recently since they had called it quits.
The participants were then tracked and followed until the end of 2011, or until they died, whichever came first.
Mortality was high in this 6-year study.
During the follow-up, nearly 16% of the total participants had deceased before the 2011 deadline was up. Out of these numbers, only 12% were those who never smoked, and 33% of the deceased were current smokers.
The greatest causes of death from current smokers are heart disease (7.5%), lung cancer (6.6%), and respiratory infections (5.6%). For those who never smoked, these diseases fall to nearly 0% as causes of death.
Also, the amount of cigarettes smoked and the age of initiation had no effect on risk estimates.
So next time when grandma refuses to let go of her cigarettes with age as an excuse, feel free to snatch that puff away, so you can spend a few more years together.