Going Back to Those Days is Still Possible If You Quit Smoking Now

It may take fifteen years to gain back your heart health if you quit smoking now, finds a new study.

If you quit smoking now, it may take fifteen years for you to gain back those heart disease free days. To return to a nonsmoker level of heart disease risk, you need to stop smoking now, finds a new study. The findings of this study are to be //presented in Chicago at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2018.

Cigarette smoking in the United States is on the decline, which means there are more former smokers. Studies to date suggest that the increased risk for cardiovascular disease in smokers diminishes a few years after quitting, but those studies have not been able to look as closely at smoking history, including changes in smoking habits such as variations in cigarettes smoked per day, or quitting followed by relapse to smoking.

Quit Smoking To Restore Metabolite Levels
Within two to three months of quitting smoking, lung function begins to improve and the risk of heart attack begins to diminish.

‘It is going to take 15 years for a person's risk of heart disease to go down if he quits smoking now.’

In this study, researchers analyzed information, including lifetime smoking history, of nearly 8,700 participants of the Framingham Heart Study who were free of cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. The midpoint of follow-up among participants was 27 years, during which cardiovascular disease risk was compared among current, former and never smokers.

Researchers found:

More than 70 percent of cardiovascular disease events in current or former smokers occurred among those who smoked at least 20 pack-years, which is the equivalent exposure of one pack a day for 20 years.

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Former smokers who had quit within the last five years reduced their cardiovascular disease risk by 38 percent compared to those who continued to smoke.

It took 16 years since quitting for former smokers' risk of cardiovascular disease to return to the level of never smokers.

People with Psychological Distress are Less Likely to Quit Smoking
Cigarette smokers with mental health problems are less likely to stop smoking. A new study identifies that the cigarette quit rates are low and not increasing among people with psychological distress.

"These findings underscore the benefits of quitting smoking within five years, which is 38 percent lower risk of a heart attack, stroke, or other forms of cardiovascular disease risk compared to people who continue to smoke. We also found that cardiovascular disease risk remains elevated for up to 16 years for former smokers compared to people who have never smoked," said Meredith Duncan, M.A., study author and Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. "The bottom line is if you smoke, now is a very good time to quit."

Source-Eurekalert

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People who joined a running group as part of the community-based program were likely to quit smoking. The carbon monoxide level decreased by about one-third.