Smoking combustible cigarettes is a habit that’s known for being harmful to your health. However, despite its dangers, it remains a popular pastime, leaving researchers working to understand the impacts it has on the user’s health and well-being over time. An October 2022 study found that quitting smoking is associated with reduced mortality risk, meaning the sooner people stop, the more benefit they are likely to see.
The study
Entitled, “Association Between Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Mortality by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex Among US Adults”, the study was published on the JAMA network and highlighted connections between the hazards of combustible cigarettes and the benefits of quitting smoking.
Although smoking is a well-established risk factor for mortality in the US population overall, there is limited evidence that associates mortality in different demographic groups, in which patterns of smoking and smoking cessation vary markedly.
What’s smoking cessation?
Smoking cessation, also called quitting smoking or stopping smoking, is the process where a user discontinues tobacco smoking. Since many people don’t want to experience the uncomfortable side effects of nicotine withdrawal, they utilize smoking cessation aids to quit tobacco altogether.
E-cigs are among the most popular smoking cessation aid, allowing users to choose their nicotine strength and lower it over time when they’re ready.
The results
With 551,388 adult participants, areas such as smoking associated with greater all-cause mortality and never smoking irrespective of race, ethnicity, and sex were focused on. It was found that quitting smoking was associated with a reduction in excess mortality associated with continued smoking, with larger reductions among those who quit at younger ages.
The researchers particularly noted smoking status: current smoker, former smoker, or never smoker. They also looked at when people quit and for how many years they quit smoking.
Among men and women from diverse racial and ethnic groups, quitting smoking was associated with large reductions in excess mortality associated with continued smoking.
The study authors note that “quitting smoking before age 45 years was associated with reductions of approximately 90% of the excess mortality risk associated with continued smoking, and quitting at ages 45 to 64 years was associated with reductions of approximately 66% of this excess risk, irrespective of race and ethnicity.”
At what age did you quit smoking? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.
