Smoking cessation reduces heart attack risk even in old age

Study: Even in old age, smoking ceases to give up the heart attack risk

02/21/2013

Many people think, „I'm too old to stop, now it's not worth it anymore“. However, a recent study by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) found that quitting smoking at the age of 60 can double the risk of suffering a heart attack. People who are 60 years old and smoke regularly have a risk of developing cardiovascular disease like a 79 year old.

Double the risk of cardiovascular disease
Who smokes time of his life, will die with a probability of 50 percent of the consequences. „It is never too late to quit smoking“, could be the main message of the results of a recent study by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). Anyone who ceases to smoke even in old age may be at risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke in a short time. To confirm this statement, the scientists of the DKFZ evaluated the data of a total of 8,807 men and women from Saarland. All subjects were at the start of the study in the age group of 50 to 74 year olds. We found that smokers are more than twice as likely to be at risk for cardiovascular disease as non-smokers“, summed up the project manager Hermann Brenner in a statement of the Cancer Research Center. To illustrate the effects, Brenner called the following comparison. „For example, a sixty-year-old smoker has a heart attack risk like a 79-year-old non-smoker“. The risk of stroke in a 60-year-old smoker is like that of a 69-year-old non-smoker.

Already last year, Hermann Brenner and colleagues had studied scientifically how smoking can affect the overall mortality rate of people over the age of 60 years. For this the researchers had evaluated a meta-analysis from data of international study without German participation. In the present study, they analyzed the health care history of people who had not yet had an infarct or stroke at the beginning of the study. The effects of other factors such as age, gender, alcohol consumption, education and sports as well as blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol level, height and weight were taken into account by the scientists in the evaluations.

Danger of death drops after a few years
Nonetheless, if the elderly cease smoking, the risk of premature death is permanently increased many times over that of lifelong non-smokers. However, the risk of death is significantly lower compared to active smokers. For example, the mortality rate of ex-smokers is only 34 percent higher than that of permanent non-smokers. „The death rate among over-60s is 54 percent, that of 70- to 79-year-olds increased by 36 percent, and those aged over 80, after all, only 27 percent. A smoker of twos dies of the smoke consequences.“

Even after a short time smoke exit show positive effects. The researchers were able to determine that the risk of stroke and infarction dropped by more than 40 percent in the first five years after the last inhaled smoldering compared to subjects who were still smoking.

„Compared to people who continue to smoke, the risk of heart attack and stroke is more than 40 percent lower during the first five years after the last cigarette“, emphasizes Carolin Gellert, first author of the study. The results show that smoking cessation programs should be designed not only for young people but also for the elderly.

Smoking ban shows first positive effect
First effects also show the regular smoking ban in restaurants and public buildings. According to the research center, a significant decrease in myocardial infarction was observed. Already one year after the implementation of the nonsmoker protection laws in 2007 and 2008, the emergency hospital admissions fell due to infarcts by 8.6 percent, as a study of the Kiel Institute for Therapy and Health Research from the year 2012 showed. The researchers determined the data on the basis of an evaluation of patient data of the approximately 3.7 million health insured of the German Employees Health Insurance Fund (DAK).

In other words, the non-smoker protection laws have prevented around 35,000 cardiovascular events and thus probably saved the lives of many people. The health insurance companies were also able to post millions in savings. According to the study, the coffers saved around 150 million euros through savings in hospital therapies. (Sb)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann