Gaby
A new large-scale study by Canadian and Norwegian researchers finds that people can extend their lifespan no matter what age they quit smoking.
“Quitting smoking is highly effective in reducing the risk of death, and people can reap these benefits quite quickly,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha from the Unity Health Global Health Research Center in Toronto.
The study’s authors concluded that if someone quits smoking for at least ten years, they can expect to live as long as people who never smoked.
They also reported that quitting at any age can bring quick gains: in their analysis, stopping for under three years was associated with about five extra years of life, and stopping for ten years with roughly ten extra years.
The younger a smoker is when they quit, the more years of life they can expect to gain.
How the Study Was Conducted
The observational study lasted 15 years. Researchers tracked nearly 1.5 million adults in high-income countries — Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada — to study smoking’s impact on lifespan, as reported by Science Alert.
Observers found that smokers aged 40 to 80 lost an average of 12 to 13 years of life compared with people who never smoked. But people who quit and stayed smoke-free for ten years had nearly eliminated their excess risk of death from all causes. They also saw a large drop in deaths from smoking-related causes, such as stroke and heart attack.
“Many people think it’s too late for them to quit smoking, especially in middle age,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha. “But the results contradict that. It’s never too late; the benefits appear quickly, lowering disease risk and leading to a longer, healthier life.”
Additional Insights from the Researchers
The team’s findings line up with earlier observational studies that linked quitting smoking to substantial increases in lifespan — sometimes as much as ten years.
Dr. Jha and his colleagues reached similar figures using a very large cohort. Their results do not mean the effects of smoking are entirely reversible. The analysis found that the risk of death from lung diseases was not significantly reduced among former smokers, and some participants showed “long-term irreversible damage to the airways.” That reality underscores the importance of making an effort to quit.
Still, the researchers said quitting smoking remains the most accessible way to significantly improve health and increase lifespan.
The study’s results were published in NEJM Evidence.
