Women who quit smoking before the age of 40 can expect to live nine years longer than those who continue to smoke, although the life expectancy of former smokers is still lower than that of those who have never smoked.
A study published in the British medical journal The Lancet involved 1.2 million British women who were followed between 1996 and 2011. Women aged 50 to 65 answered questions about their lifestyle and health status at three-year intervals. 20 percent of participants were smokers, 28 percent were former smokers, and the remaining 52 percent had never smoked.
The results showed that smokers, on average, live 11 years shorter than those who have never smoked, with the risk of death before age 70 being 24 percent higher for smokers and 9 percent for non-smokers. However, British scientists specifically wanted to determine what happened to women who quit smoking at different stages of life.
They discovered that quitting smoking before age 40 can add another 9 years of life, and even 10 years if they quit before age 35. ‘This does not mean that women can freely smoke until 40 and then quit, as they still have a mortality rate more than 20 percent higher than those who have never smoked for decades,’ the study emphasizes.
Premature death among female smokers is mainly associated with lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as cardiovascular diseases. The risk of premature death increases depending on the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the age at which a woman starts smoking, as those who start before age 15 are at the highest risk, especially for lung cancer.
