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Quit Smoking – Lower Cardiovascular disease and Cancer Amongst Women By Quit Smoking

Tue, Aug 4, 2009

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Quit Smoking – Lower Cardiovascular disease and Cancer Amongst Women By Quit Smoking

Quit Smoking – By stopping smoking, women benefit from a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and a lesser incidence of death from various smoking-related cancers. According to new results of the large-scale Nurses’ Health Study, female smoking cessation brings major health risks down by more than 20 percent!

The study was based on the analysis of medical histories of 104,519 US nurses, whose health status was followed within a period of 24 years. The research analysis, recently published in the JAMA and Archives Journals, was conducted by a team of scientists led by Stacey A. Kenfield of the Harvard’s School of Public Health (Boston).

Woman Smoking Quit Smoking – During the study, the researchers looked at the death toll of the participants and correlated the obtained data with smoking habits of the deceased nurses. From among 12,483 death cases, 35.9 percent occurred in women who had never consumed tobacco products, 28.9 percent – in current smokers, and 35.2 percent – in ex-smokers.

The correlation showed more than a 13 percent reduction in total mortality of those nurses who had not been smoking for at least five years, in comparison with current smokers. Abstinence from cigarette smoking for a period of at least 20 years was linked to a total 20 percent reduction in mortality from all causes, including respiratory diseases – the same level that was enjoyed by women who had never smoked in their life. In addition, cardiovascular risks plummeted sharply in a group of women who had stayed smoke-free for five years and longer.

Quit Smoking - A five-year-long cigarette abstinence was associated with a 61 percent reduction in mortality from heart attack and a 42 percent reduction in deaths caused by stroke. Within that time, the death rate from lung diseases and other respiratory conditions was reduced by 18 percent, and continued dropping with every new year of a smoke-free life. Death risks from lung cancer were reduced by 21 percent within the first five years after smoking cessation, and lowered by 87 percent after 20 years of abstinence from smoking.

In addition, the study revealed that those women who had been hooked on cigarettes since their teenage years had a greater risk of contracting various smoking-induced diseases, as well as a higher risk of dying from colorectal cancer.

The researchers found that a whopping 64 percent of deaths observed in the nurses within the study period could be linked to their habit of smoking. In comparison, only 28 percent of death cases can be attributed to previous smoking, which shows that, by quitting smoking, women can reduce their mortality rates by entire 36 percent!

The scientists involved in the study speak in favour of programs that are aimed to prevent tobacco consumption by high school students and other categories of the population. They also insist that public health organizations should make tobacco awareness programs an important component of their activities, which would greatly reduce the rates of both disease and mortality in the country.

The World Health Organization estimates that, currently, tobacco is responsible for premature deaths of more than five million people worldwide. By the year 2030, this number can climb up to three million preventable deaths in the industrialized world and over seven million – in the developing countries. According to the WHO, tobacco consumption remains the main cause of premature death in the United States.

Jimmy Edwards

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