Each smoked cigarette reduces the life expectancy of a person by about 20 minutes. This conclusion was reached by researchers of the University College of London (UCL) in the UK.
According to The Guardian, the study is based on the latest British Doctors Study data – a longitudinal statistical study conducted from 1951 to 2001, and the Million Women Study, which trains women’s health since 1996.
Based on these data, the researchers have determined that each smoked cigarette can reduce life expectancy by about 20 minutes. Accordingly, each pack containing 20 cigarettes reduces life expectancy by about 7 hours.
According to this study, if a smoker with 10 cigarettes per day quit smoking on January 1, he can prevent the loss of a whole day of his life by January 8th. He can increase the duration of his life for a week if he quit smoking until February 5, and for a month, if he stops before August 5. By the end of the year, he could avoid loss of 50 days of life, the study says.
“Those who do not quit smoking, lose on average 10 years of their lives,” said Sarah Jackson, one of the authors of the study.
According to her, some people may think that they are not embarrassed by the loss of several years of life, given that old age is often accompanied by chronic diseases or disability.
“But smoking does not reduce the unhealthy period at the end of life. It primarily eats relatively healthy years in the middle of life, approaching the beginning of poor health,” she added.
The results of the study are published in the journal Journal of Addiction.