Quitting smoking could reduce your risk of cardiovascular
disease by nearly 40 percent, a new study says.
Researchers found that former heavy smokers could reach
lower risk-level within five years after quitting.
However, it could take anywhere from 10 to 25 years after
quitting for a former smoker's cardiovascular disease risk to be as low as that
of someone whom has never smoked.
The team, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
Tennessee, says the findings provide further evidence - along with decades of
health warnings and campaigns - for smokers to quit now so they can start
repairing their heart and blood vessels.
Adult smoking rates are currently at all-time low in the US,
down from 42 percent in the 1960s to 13.9 percent today.
In turn, the number of former smokers is rising, but it's
unclear what - or how many -health risks they face.
'There was a lack of information about what actually happens
to people in the long-term based on estimates from rigorously collected data,'
lead author Meredith Duncan of Vanderbilt University Medical Center told DailyMail.com
back in November 2018.
For the study, published in the Journal of the Medical
Association, the team analyzed data from the Framingham Heart Study from 1954
through 2014.
It included more than 8,700 participants, about 3,800 of
whom were originally enrolled and about 4,900 whom are their children and
grandchildren.
'The Framingham Heart Study provides particularly robust
data on lifetime smoking history,' said Duncan.
'Our team leveraged this unique opportunity to document what
happens to CVD risk after quitting smoking relative to people who continued to
smoke and to those who never smoked.'
The team looked heavy cigarette smokers who smoked at least
one pack a day for 20 years.
They found that compared with current heavy smokers, former
heavy smokers who quit could lower their risk of cardiovascular disease within
five years.
'Previous studies have shown the association between
quitting and reduced CVD risk,' said Duncan.
'But the current Atherosclerotic CVD Risk Calculator, which
is routinely used in clinical practice, considers former smokers' risk to be
similar to that of never smokers after five years of cessation, which is not consistent
with these findings.'
The new study found that compared to people who had never
smoked, it could take anywhere from 10 to 25 years for the cardiovascular disease
risk to become as low.
Researchers say they hope the results convince current
smokers to 'put out their cigarettes'.
'The cardiovascular system begins to heal relatively quickly
after quitting smoking, even for people who have smoked heavily over decades,'
said senior author Dr Hilary Tindle, medical director of the Vanderbilt
University Medical Center Tobacco Treatment Service.
'Full recovery could take years, so now is a great time to
quit smoking and take other steps toward heart health.'
The preliminary findings were originally presented at the
American Heart Association conference in Chicago, Illinois, in November 2018.
(Daily Mail)
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