Giving up smoking and the risk of heart attacks. A report from The British Regional Heart Study.
In a prospective study of 7735 middle-aged men, both current and ex-cigarette-smokers had a risk of a major IHD event, within an average 6.2 years of screening, more than twice that in men who had never smoked cigarettes; men who had given up smoking more than 20 years ago still had an increased risk. This excess risk among ex-smokers is only to a small extent explained by their higher blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, and body-mass index. An increased prevalence of IHD in men who had recently given up smoking also made a small contribution to excess risk. In both current and former cigarette smokers, the number of years a man had smoked cigarettes ("smoking-years") was the clearest indicator of IHD risk due to cigarettes. The major benefit of giving up smoking may lie in halting the accumulation of smoking years.
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D012907:Smoking; D013997:Time Factors; D006113:United Kingdom
D002784:Cholesterol