Do you want to quit smoking? A study reveals the ideal age to quit smoking

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A scientific study published on October 24 in the journal JAMA Network Open reveals the ideal age to quit smoking, before the damage to the body becomes too great.

Here is a study that should convince more than one as the tobacco-free month is fast approaching. A survey carried out by an international group of scientists, published this Monday, October 24, comes to look at the ideal age to stop smoking. According to its authors, in order to find a mortality similar to that of non-smokers, it would be necessary to stop smoking at… 35 years old!

“Currently, smoking is associated with a death rate at least twice that of people who have never touched a cigarette in their life. Now we can be much more specific and disprove this generality,” write the authors of the study. study relayed by Slate.

This survey, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, was based on data from questionnaires administered to 550,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 84. Some were regular smokers, others non-smokers or ex-smokers.

Less risk for those who “started young”

All of these elements have enabled scientists to draw a conclusion: individuals who stop smoking at the age of 35 have a mortality rate extremely close to that of individuals who have never smoked, “especially for those who started young,” says John P. Pierce, a professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of California, San Diego.

Conversely, stopping smoking after the age of 35 raises this rate to 21% between 35 and 44 years old, and to 47% between 45 and 54 years old. “Without an immediate goal, everyone thinks there’s still time. Setting a 35-year deadline could be a motivator for those who want to quit,” writes John P. Pierce.

The only downside to this study: since the questionnaires were collected at a specific time, the smoking habits of survey participants may have changed since publication. “The true dangers of cigarettes and the benefits of quitting smoking may be underestimated in this analysis,” warn the authors.

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