Outlook

For smokers, quality and length of life depends on the number and severity of smoking-associated illnesses they may develop and if they have other medical conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Other lifestyle factors—use of alcohol or other drugs, for example—also make a difference in long-term outcomes for smokers. For smokers who quit, projected health and life expectancy improve markedly—at any age of life.

• Smokers who quit before age 50 years have half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared with those who continue to smoke.

• Quitting smoking substantially decreases the risk of lung, voice box, esophageal, oral, pancreatic, bladder, and cervical cancers. For example, 10 years after quitting, an ex-smoker has 30-50% of the risk of lung cancer compared to a continuing smoker. Continued abstinence continues to lower the risk.

• Quitting lowers the risk for other major diseases including coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease. The increased risk of CHD halves after 1 year of abstinence. After 15 years, the risk of CHD approximates that of someone who never smoked.

• Women who stop smoking before pregnancy, or during the first 3 or 4 months of pregnancy, reduce their risk of having a low birthweight baby to that of women who never smoked.

• The health benefits of quitting far exceed any risks from the average 5-pound weight gain that may follow quitting.