and of women in which many began to smoke in
early adult life and did not quit.
11-16
All these
studies showed that in middle age (about 30 to
69 years of age), mortality among cigarette smokers was two to three times the mortality among
otherwise similar persons who had never
smoked, leading to a reduction in life span by an
average of about 10 years (Fig. 1). This average
reduction combines zero loss for those not killed
by tobacco with an average loss of well over a
decade for those who are killed by it.
Second, many of those killed are still in
middle age, losing many years of life. Some of
those killed in middle age might have died soon
anyway, but others might have lived on for decades. On average, those killed in middle age by
smoking lose about 20 years of life expectancy as
compared with persons who have never smoked.
1
Third, stopping smoking works. Those who
have smoked cigarettes since early adulthood but
stop at 30, 40, or 50 years of age gain about 10,
9, and 6 years of life expectancy, respectively, as
compared with those who continue smoking.