The health risks of
smoking are worse than we thought, an Australian researcher said
yesterday. But the good news is that those who quit in their 20s or 30s
avoid about 90 per cent of the excess risk compared with those who never
smoked.
“We used to say in the 1960s that smoking was like throwing dice in
terms of whether you would die from it or not,” Australian National
University health expert Emily Banks said. “Then we said it was like
tossing a coin. Now, we’re finding two-thirds of deaths in current
smokers are attributable to smoking.” Professor Banks led a study of
200,000 Australians over 45 that found those who smoked were knocking an
average of 10 years off their lives.
Those smoking 10 cigarettes a day doubled their risk factor and those
puffing more than 25 a day quadrupled it. “There’s no threshold under
which there’s not a risk,” Banks said.
“But quitting at any age reduces your risk and the younger you are when
you stop the better.” The Sax Institute’s 45 and Up study is the largest
of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Banks said it echoed similar
findings in Britain and the United States.
