why it's never too late to quit smoking

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WHY IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO QUIT SMOKING
WebPosted Mon Feb 14 19:01:24 2005

Washington---Quitting smoking, even after lung disease has been
diagnosed, can add years to a person's life, new research suggests.

The findings add to evidence on the health benefits of kicking the
nicotine habit, investigators in the U.S. and the University of
Manitoba said.

The study looked at heavy smokers with mild lung disease who did not
consider themselves ill.

After five years, the death rate was cut nearly in half among smokers who
successfully quit after following a targeted program.

All participants, aged 35 to 60, had chronic pulmonary obstructive
disease, which impairs breathing. The disease harms the air sacs and air
passages of the lungs.



Doctors admonish, help quitters Half the men and women were randomly
assigned to a quit-smoking program for 10 weeks. The other half were told
that smoking is harmful.

The quit-smoking program included a strong lecture from a doctor,
behaviour modification workshops and nicotine gum.

After five years, 22 per cent of those enrolled in the program managed to
quit long term, compared to five per cent who didn't receive any help.

After an average of 14.5 years, the death rate among the quit smoking
group was about 15 per cent lower than the control group.

"In our study, death from lung cancer was roughly 2.2 times more common
in current smokers than in sustained quitters," the researchers wrote in
Tuesday's Annals of Internal Medicine.

The reduction in death rate was more significant among those aged 35 to
45.

The surprising finding suggests younger people may have more to gain from
a simple test of lung function called spirometry, said study author John
Connett, a professor of biostatistics of the University of Minnesota
School of Public Health.



RELATED STORY: Anti-smoking advocate urges full ban (CBC Calgary) The
large size and randomized nature of the study lend credence to all of the
results, which "prove smoking causes an increased risk of death for
smokers," wrote Dr. Jonathan Samet of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, in a journal editorial.

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