Smokers are being urged to kick the habit by 2025 after a new assessment of the harm of cigarettes showed they shorten life expectancy even more than doctors previously thought.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) found that, on average, a cigarette takes about 20 minutes off a person's life. This means that a pack of 20 cigarettes can reduce an individual's life by almost seven hours, reported the. "The Guardian.
According to the analysis, if a smoker of 10 cigarettes a day quit on Jan. 1, he could prevent losing a full day of life by Jan. 8. He can increase his life expectancy by a week if he quits by February 5 and by a full month if he stops by August 5. By the end of the year, he can avoid losing 50 days of life, according to the estimate.
"People generally know that smoking is harmful, but they tend to underestimate exactly how much. Smokers who don't quit lose, on average, about a decade of their lives. That's 10 years of precious time, life moments and milestones with loved ones," said Dr Sarah Jackson, Principal Research Fellow at UCL's Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group.
Smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of disease and death, killing up to two-thirds of long-term cigarette users. It causes around 80,000 deaths a year in the UK and a quarter of all cancer deaths in England.
The study, commissioned by the Department of Health, is based on the latest data from the British Medical Survey, which began in 1951 as one of the first large-scale studies of the effects of smoking, and the Million Women Study, which has been tracking women's health since 1996.
"Some people may think they don't mind losing a few years of life, given that old age is often characterized by chronic disease or disability. But smoking does not shorten the unhealthy period at the end of life. It mostly takes away the relatively healthy years in middle age, accelerating the onset of disease. This means that a 60-year-old smoker typically has the health profile of a 70-year-old non-smoker," Dr Jackson explained.
Although some smokers live long, others develop smoking-related diseases and even die from them in their 40s. The differences are due to differences in smoking habits, such as the type of cigarettes, number of puffs and depth of inhalation. People also differ in how susceptible they are to the toxic substances in cigarette smoke.
The authors emphasize that smokers must quit completely to get the full health and life expectancy benefits. Previous research has shown that there is no safe level of smoking: the risk of heart disease and stroke is only about 50% lower in people who smoke one cigarette a day compared with those who smoke 20 cigarettes a day. "Smoking cessation at any age is beneficial, but the earlier smokers get off this death escalator, the longer and healthier lives they can expect," they write.
"Every cigarette smoked costs precious minutes of life, and the cumulative impact is devastating not only to individuals but to our health care system and economy. This research is a stark reminder of the urgent need to tackle smoking as the UK's leading preventable cause of death and disease," said Professor. Sanjay Agrawal, Special Adviser on Tobacco at the Royal College of Physicians. | BGNES
