Light ex-smokers have significant reduction in CVD risk within 10 years of cessation, while risk disappears in >25 years for heavy ex-smokers<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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FRIDAY, Nov. 1, 2024 (HealthDay News) — There is a dose-dependent association for smoking and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, according to a study published online Nov. 1 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jun Hwan Cho, M.D., from Chung-Ang University Gwangmyeong Hospital in South Korea, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the associations between smoking cessation, lifetime smoking burden, and CVD risk based on the numbers of years elapsed after smoking cessation.<\/p>\n The analyses included 5,391,231 participants: 15.8, 1.9, and 82.2 percent current smokers, ex-smokers, and never smokers, respectively, who were followed for a mean of 4.2 years. The researchers found that the median baseline cumulative smoking amounts were 14.0 and 10.5 pack-years for current smokers and ex-smokers, respectively. For ex-smokers, the median duration of smoking cessation was four years. There was a dose-dependent relationship observed between smoking and incident CVD, regardless of continued smoking. Ex-smokers with a lifetime smoking burden of less than eight pack-years (light ex-smokers) had a significant reduction in CVD risk within 10 years of cessation compared with current smokers, with the risk becoming similar to that of never-smokers. Ex-smokers with eight or more pack-years (heavy ex-smokers) had a slower decline in CVD risk, with the residual CVD risk not disappearing until after more than 25 years.<\/p>\n “Heavy ex-smokers should be considered to have a CVD risk equivalent to that of patients who continue to smoke, and management should be planned accordingly,” the authors write.<\/p>\n One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n