Experts found that after 15 years of smoking cessation, the risk of individuals to develop heart failure and death may return to normal, making them having a similar risk to those who never smoked. The scope of the study does not include those who smoke one pack per day for 32 years and more; nonetheless, these individuals exhibit lesser risk of death compared to those who still smoke at present.
The team of researchers, led by Dr. Ali Ahmed from the Center for Health and Aging at the Washington DC VA Medical Center, utilized the current Cardiovascular Health Study data that involved 2,556 "never smokers," 629 present smokers and 1,297 previous smokers. All of the study participants were aged 65 and above and 312 of the previous smokers had heavy cigarette usage of one pack per day for 32 years or more.
The study results after 13 years of evaluation show that the population of never smokers and previous smokers who had heart failure is 21 percent in both groups. Comparison of mortality risks among present smokers and heavy smokers to never smokers were different; present smokers are twice more likely to die from other diseases compared to never smokers and previous smokers are 26 percent more likely to die than never smokers.
The findings of the study are in sync with the previous reports, including that from the US Surgeon General. In 2004, the report from the said sector on Health Consequences of Smoking states that the risk of patient acquiring cardiovascular diseases are the same in individuals who never smoked and those who stopped smoking more than 15 years ago. However, the smoking factors dictating these results were not clearly determined.
"When one smokes, it induces atherosclerosis, or the buildup of plaque in the arteries," Ahmed explained. "However, when one quits smoking, the buildup of plaque and risk of blood of clots decreases, allowing one's cardiovascular risk to return to normal over time."
Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of the arteries, which may result in heart failure due to blood clots and impeded blood flow.
Smoking cessation also poses various health benefits such as prevention of cancers, particularly lung and upper gastrointestinal cancers, said Bich Tran, who was not part of the study. Tran is a public health and epidemiology researcher from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
This is the first research that analyzed the impact of the amount and duration of previous smoking on the positive health outcomes of prolonged discontinuance for previous smokers, commented Dr. Gerasimos Siasos from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Siasos was not included in the team of researchers.
Photo: Nicoletta Ciunci | Flickr
