Quitting smoking helps even older patients live longer

Quitting smoking will reduce the risk of mortality even in older patients, a new study found.

A recent report has revealed that quitting smoking would help older patients live longer as the researchers linked smoking to increased all-caused mortality in senior patients.

The report, obtained from an analysis of medical literature, said that smoking cessation will reduce mortality even in older patients.

The study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine on Monday, said in its background that smoking is considered as a risk factor for chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. But that the epidemiological data regularly depends on research carried out among middle-aged people.

Meanwhile, the recent study provided a thorough analysis and review of studies assessing the influence of smoking on mortality in older patients of 60 years and older, Carolin Gellert from the German Cancer Research Center said in the study.

She also said that the study paid particular attention to “the strength of the association by age, the impact of smoking cessation at older age, and factors that might specifically affect results of epidemiological studies on the impact of smoking in an older population.”

The German researchers analyzed 17 studies from seven countries-- including China, England, the US, Australia, Japan, Spain and France-- which were released between 1987 and 2011. The studies took from 3 to 50 years to be completed and the number of their participants ranged from 863 to 877,243 people.

While summarizing the outcomes from the 17 studies, the German team noted an 83-percent increased relative mortality for current smokers and a 34 percent increased relative mortality for ex-smokers than those who have never smoked.

"In this review and meta-analysis on the association of smoking and all-caused mortality at older age, current and former smokers showed an approximately 2-fold and 1.3-fold risk for mortality, respectively," the study read.

"This review and meta-analysis demonstrates that the relative risk for death notably decreases with time since smoking cessation even at older age."

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Source: PRESSTV.IR