Smoking Reduction Can Improve Long-Term Health

Forty-year study shows benefit from reduction in smoking

Although the benefits of complete smoking cessation include a lowered risk of disease, increased life expectancy, and an improved quality of life, quitting altogether can be a long and difficult road. Only a small percentage of smokers succeed.

To address the patients who either cannot or will not quit, Vicki Myers, a researcher at Tel Aviv University (TAU) Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and her fellow researchers, Dr Yariv Gerber and Professor Uri Goldbourt of TAU’s School of Public Health, examined survival and life expectancy rates of smokers who reduced their cigarette consumption instead of quitting entirely. This research has been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

To examine the impact of changes in smoking intensity over time, the researchers studied 4633 Israeli working males involved in the Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study. All participants were smokers at baseline, with a median age of 51 years at recruitment. Interviews regarding their smoking habits took place in 1963 and again in 1965. Participants’ mortality status was followed for a period of up to 40 years.

During their first interview, participants were placed in 1 of 4 categories by daily cigarette consumption: no cigarettes, 1-10 cigarettes, 11-20 cigarettes, and more than 21. In the second interview, researchers noted whether an individual had increased (moved up 1 category of cigarette consumption), maintained, reduced (moved down 1 category of cigarette consumption), or ceased smoking during the previous 2 years.

Quitters experienced the most benefits in the long term, with a 22% reduction in overall mortality. Those who reduced their smoking by 1 category or more were seen to have a 15% decrease in overall mortality risk and a 23% reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality.

The researchers also measured the participants’ survival to the age of 80. Those who quit smoking saw a 33% increased chance of survival to 80 years of age, and reducers a 22% increased chance.

Participants of this study were, on average, 50 years old when the study began, and they were still able to quit or reduce their smoking. Moreover, they were able to see long-term benefits from their efforts. Thus, Myers says it is never too late to tackle a smoking habit.

Though reduction is a controversial policy (some health professionals believe it weakens the message of cessation), smokers should take any steps possible to improve their long-term health, she counsels.

Source: American Friends Tel Aviv University.