It’s never too late to quit smoking, according to a new analysis of thousands of smokers who finds people over 60 years to give up the habit is to reduce the risk of death.
Smoking is a known risk factor for many diseases, including many types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. However, most studies on the health effects of smoking include a middle-aged people.
The latest analysis by German scientists studied the effects of smoking on health in the age of 60.
The researchers combed through the results of 17 studies conducted in the United States, China, Australia, Japan, England, Spain and France between 1987 and 2011.
They found that, compared with those who never smoked smokers 60 years and older was 83 percent higher risk of death from all causes. They had a 34 percent higher risk of death compared with former smokers.
T.H. Lam, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, says that people who continue to smoke, as the elderly, at least one-in-two chance of dying from the habit. Lam calls those who do not die from their habit of “survivors.”
But according to a study by Lam says it’s not too late for them to go too.
“If they quit, they can reduce by about one-quarter of their high risk,” says Lam. “So it’s good news that older people should not continue to smoke. They need to quit smoking as soon as possible.”
Smokers, who start at a young age and managed to get in the thirties, may reduce the risk of death from smoking-related diseases in almost anyone who has never smoked.
Lam says the problem is, many older smokers do not see any sense or feel the urgency to stop smoking.
“Because they might think, why not tomorrow, then why not next year? But, of course, even for smokers with lung cancer if they stop smoking for the results of treatment would have been better.”
It is believed, smoking kills 12 percent of all men and six percent of women worldwide. According to experts, if current trends continue smoking, the habit will respond to one billion deaths in the late 21 th century.