Smokers must quit, not just cut down, study finds
Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:17pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Smokers eager to cut the risk of dying early from
tobacco-related illnesses must quit completely, researchers said on
Tuesday, because cutting down -- even by half -- is not enough.

"Smokers should quit -- you can't give your health a better present
than to quit smoking," said Dr Kjell Bjartveit, former director of the
National Health Screening Service, in Oslo.

In a 20-year study of 51,000 men and women in Norway, Bjartveit and his
team studied the impact of cutting down smoking on deaths from heart
disease, lung cancer and other tobacco-related cancers.

All the people at the start of the study were between 20-34 years old.
They were assessed for their risk of suffering from cardiovascular
disease at the beginning of the project and twice during the 20-year
follow up period.

The aim of the research, published in the journal Tobacco Control, was
to determine the health benefits if heavy smokers who got through more
than 15 cigarettes a day cut their consumption by half or more.

"The long-term effects of a substantial reduction in smoking did not
show any benefits in comparison with persistent heavy smoking,"
Bjartveit told Reuters.

The researchers found no significant difference in early death rates
from cardiovascular disease, cancers and other causes between heavy
smokers who continued their habit and people who had halved their
consumption during the study.

The results were the same for both men and women.

"In health education and patient counseling, it may give people false
expectations to advise that reduction in consumption is associated with
reduction in harm," Bjartveit added.

Smoking is a leading cause of preventable death. In addition to being a
risk factor for heart attack and stroke and certain types of cancer, it
is also the leading cause of lung cancer and chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) which includes chronic bronchitis and
emphysema.

Health experts estimate the annual global deaths associated with
smoking could double to 10 million or more by 2020.

"The study proves quite clearly the only safe way out of the risk
caused by smoking: people who quit smoking have achieved a risk level
that is remarkably lower than those who continued to smoke," Bjartveit
said in the journal.

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