As of 2008, Nine percent of Americans over 65 years of age currently smoked.
Quitting smoking has proven health benefits, even at a late age. When an older person quits smoking, circulation improves immediately, and the lungs begin to repair damage. In one year, the added risk of heart disease is cut almost in half, and risk of stroke, lung disease, and cancer diminish.
Life expectancy among smokers who quit at age 35 exceeded that of continuing smokers by 6.9 to 8.5 years for men and 6.1 to 7.7 years for women. Smokers who quit at younger ages realized greater life extensions. However, even those who quit much later in life gained some benefits: among smokers who quit at age 65 years, men gained 1.4 to 2.0 years of life, and women gained 2.7 to 3.7 years.
Stopping smoking as early as possible is important, but cessation at any age provides meaningful life extensions.
There is evidence to suggest that health is improved and mortality reduced among those who stop smoking after the age of 65 years. Stopping smoking not only adds years to life, but life to years, by preventing or reducing disability caused by smoking-related chronic illness that include cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease, circulatory problems and cerebrovascular disease (stroke).
Former smokers
•The main reasons that the former smokers stopped smoking were health related.
•Most of the former smokers had received little help and support from health professionals when attempting to stop smoking. The use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) was limited.
•There were both positive and negative associations with previous cessation attempts.
•Most of the former smokers believed that stopping smoking had been beneficial to their health. A few of the former smokers had had serious health problems after stopping smoking. They appeared to feel that this was ‘unfair’ as they had stopped smoking to improve their health or prevent health problems developing.
•When asked to discuss any negative sides to stopping smoking, just less than half of the former smokers reported that they had gained weight.
•A small number of the former smokers believed that older people need more support than younger people to help them stop smoking.
COPD
A study found that middle-aged smokers and former smokers with mild or moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease breathed easier after quitting. After one year the women who quit smoking had 2 times more improvement in lung function compared with the men who quit.
Among participants who quit smoking in the first year, mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)) expressed as a percentage of the predicted value of FEV(1 )given the person's age, height, gender, and race (FEV(1)%) increased more in women (3.7% of predicted) than in men (1.6% of predicted) (p < 0.001). Across the 5-year follow-up period, among sustained quitters, women gained more in FEV(1)% of predicted than did men.
Weight Gain
The benefits to cardiovascular health that are associated with quitting smoking aren’t blunted by the modest weight gain, according to a new study.
About 80% of smokers who quit gain weight. Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, so health professionals have wondered whether this weight gain might counter the health benefits of quitting. A team of researchers that included Dr. James B. Meigs of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Carole Clair—now at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland—and Dr. Caroline S. Fox of NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) set out to investigate.
Among participants without diabetes, those who quit smoking had about half the risk of cardiovascular problems as those who smoked. A similar benefit was found among those with diabetes, but the number of participants with diabetes wasn’t large enough to ensure this result wasn’t due to chance.
“Our findings suggest that a modest weight gain, around 5-10 pounds, has a negligible effect on the net benefit of quitting smoking,” Fox says. “Being able to quantify to some degree the relationship between the benefits and side effects of smoking cessation can help in counseling those who have quit or are thinking about quitting.”
