Debunked popular myth about smoking

Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medical Center have concluded that simply reducing the number of cigarettes smoked provides almost no reduction in the risk of cardiovascular diseases - only complete smoking cessation brings real benefits. The study is published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

As reported by BAKU.WS with reference to the journal PLOS Medicine, the work combined data from 22 large-scale cohort studies involving 323,826 adults who were observed for almost 20 years. During this period, more than 125,000 deaths and 54,000 cases of cardiovascular diseases were recorded.

The authors analyzed smoking duration, daily cigarette consumption, and time elapsed after quitting the habit using Cox proportional hazards models. The average age of volunteers was about 60 years; the majority were women. At the time of inclusion in the study, 14% were active smokers, 49% had already quit tobacco, and 36% had never smoked.

Demographic indicators, body mass index, presence of diabetes, coronary heart disease, and alcohol consumption were also taken into account. The final analysis showed that even a few cigarettes per day significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Michael Blaha, MD, Director of Clinical Research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, noted that the degree of danger for smokers is determined by the length of smoking history, the number of cigarettes, and time after quitting, however, only complete cessation can significantly reduce the risk of developing heart and vascular diseases.