Press release
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Former smokers who maintain a healthy lifestyle have a lower risk of dying from all causes than those who don’t adopt healthy habits, according to a new study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Health. The reduced risk of dying was seen for specific causes, including cancer and heart and lung disease. Lifestyle interventions have not been well studied in former smokers, and these new findings could have important implications for the 52 million former smokers in the United States.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, defined as doing things like being physically active and eating a healthy diet, was associated with a 27% reduced risk of death over the 19-year follow-up period, compared with not maintaining a healthy lifestyle of healthy life.
The findings, which appeared September 22, 2022, in JAMA Network Open, come from an analysis of a large group of former smokers who participated in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.
“I was surprised to see the strong associations [with lifestyle]said Maki Inoue-Choi, Ph.D., of NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, lead author of the paper. “Former smokers who adhered to evidence-based recommendations on body weight, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption had a lower mortality risk than former smokers who did not adhere to these recommendations.”
It is well known that quitting smoking has many health benefits, but former smokers still have a higher risk of disease and premature death than people who have never smoked.
Previous studies have suggested that people who follow healthy lifestyle recommendations, such as maintaining a healthy body weight, being physically active, eating a healthy diet, and limiting alcohol consumption, may have a lower risk of disease and death. However, few studies have analyzed the benefit of such adherence among former smokers.
The current analysis included 159,937 former smokers who completed questionnaires about lifestyle, demographics, and other health-related information between 1995 and 1996 when they joined the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. The participants, whose average age at study entry was 62.6 years, were followed for approximately 19 years. During the follow-up period, which lasted until 2019, 86,127 participants died. Information on death, including cause of death, came from the National Death Index.
For each participant, the researchers calculated a total adherence score ranging from no adherence to complete adherence. The total adherence score incorporated individual scores for body mass index, according to World Health Organization guidelines; for diet quality, based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010-2015; for physical activity, based on the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans; and for alcohol use, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.
Former smokers with the highest total adherence scores had a 27% lower risk of death from any cause than those with the lowest scores. Additionally, participants with the highest scores had a 24% reduction in risk of death from cancer, a 28% reduction in risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and a 30% reduction in risk of death from respiratory disease . Reductions in the risk of death were seen regardless of health status, other health conditions, how many cigarettes the participants smoked per day, years since they quit, and the age they started smoking.
The researchers also evaluated the benefit of adherence to individual lifestyle recommendations. In each case, people with the highest score had a lower risk of death than those with the lowest score: 17% lower for physical activity, 14% lower for body weight, 9% lower for diet quality and 4% lower for alcohol consumption. .
“To get the most benefit, it’s best to follow a lot of lifestyle recommendations,” Dr. Inoue-Choi said. “But even those who adopted just one lifestyle recommendation experienced benefits.”
The researchers cautioned that studies based on self-reported data can only show associations, not establish cause and effect. Although the researchers controlled for many factors that could have confounded the associations, they said they can’t rule out the possibility that other factors may have affected the associations they observed.
The researchers also noted that further studies are needed to explore associations between adherence to lifestyle recommendations and risk of death among former smokers in more diverse populations.
“The NIH-AARP study is a predominantly white population with a relatively high socioeconomic status,” said Dr. Inoue-Choi. “These research questions need to be extended to other populations.”
About National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIH’s efforts to dramatically reduce cancer prevalence and improve the lives of people with cancer. NCI supports a wide range of cancer research and training externally through grants and contracts. NCI’s intramural research program conducts innovative epidemiologic, translational, clinical, transdisciplinary, and basic research on cancer causes, prevention pathways, risk prediction, early detection, and treatment, including research at the Center NIH Clinic, the world’s largest research hospital. Learn more about NCI’s internal research from the Center for Cancer Research and the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. For more information about cancer, visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call the NCI Contact Center at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the lead federal agency that conducts and supports basic, clinical, and translational medical research , and is researching the causes, treatments, and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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