REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Quitting smoking is associated with a substantial reduction in risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CHD .
This 36 % risk reduction appears substantial compared with other secondary preventive therapies such as cholesterol lowering which have received greater attention in recent years .
The risk reduction associated with quitting smoking seems consistent regardless of differences between the studies in terms of index cardiac events , age , sex , country , and time period .
BACKGROUND Although the importance of smoking as a risk factor for coronary heart disease is beyond doubt , the speed and magnitude of risk reduction when a smoker with coronary heart disease quits are still subjects of debate .
OBJECTIVES To estimate the magnitude of risk reduction when a patient with CHD stops smoking .
Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors
Abstract Objective To compare the hazards of cigarette smoking in men who formed their habits at different periods , and the extent of the reduction in risk when cigarette smoking is stopped at different ages . Design Prospect i ve study that has continued from 1951 to 2001 . Setting United Kingdom . Participants 34 439 male British doctors . Information about their smoking habits was obtained in 1951 , and periodically thereafter ; cause specific mortality was monitored for 50 years . Main outcome measures Overall mortality by smoking habit , considering separately men born in different periods . Results The excess mortality associated with smoking chiefly involved vascular , neoplastic , and respiratory diseases that can be caused by smoking . Men born in 1900 - 1930 who smoked only cigarettes and continued smoking died on average about 10 years younger than lifelong non-smokers . Cessation at age 60 , 50 , 40 , or 30 years gained , respectively , about 3 , 6 , 9 , or 10 years of life expectancy . The excess mortality associated with cigarette smoking was less for men born in the 19th century and was greatest for men born in the 1920s . The cigarette smoker versus non-smoker probabilities of dying in middle age ( 35 - 69 ) were 42 % ν24 % ( a twofold death rate ratio ) for those born in 1900 - 1909 , but were 43 % ν 15 % ( a threefold death rate ratio ) for those born in the 1920s . At older ages , the cigarette smoker versus non-smoker probabilities of surviving from age 70 to 90 were 10 % ν 12 % at the death rates of the 1950s ( that is , among men born around the 1870s ) but were 7 % ν 33 % ( again a threefold death rate ratio ) at the death rates of the 1990s ( that is , among men born around the 1910s ) . Conclusion A substantial progressive decrease in the mortality rates among non-smokers over the past half century ( due to prevention and improved treatment of disease ) has been wholly outweighed , among cigarette smokers , by a progressive increase in the smoker ν non-smoker death rate ratio due to earlier and more intensive use of cigarettes . Among the men born around 1920 , prolonged cigarette smoking from early adult life tripled age specific mortality rates , but cessation at age 50 halved the hazard , and cessation at age 30 avoided almost all of it
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Quitting smoking is associated with a substantial reduction in risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CHD .
This 36 % risk reduction appears substantial compared with other secondary preventive therapies such as cholesterol lowering which have received greater attention in recent years .
The risk reduction associated with quitting smoking seems consistent regardless of differences between the studies in terms of index cardiac events , age , sex , country , and time period .
BACKGROUND Although the importance of smoking as a risk factor for coronary heart disease is beyond doubt , the speed and magnitude of risk reduction when a smoker with coronary heart disease quits are still subjects of debate .
OBJECTIVES To estimate the magnitude of risk reduction when a patient with CHD stops smoking .