Tobacco: the risks increase with one cigarette a day

The “small” of smokers worry about. Conventional wisdom asserts: there is no safe threshold with tobacco. Study confirms. Published in JAMA Internal Medicine , it shows that even lower than 10 cigarettes per day, consumers are more at risk of death. Lung cancer in particular are much more common in this population.

290,000 Americans aged 59-82 years participated in this work. Several questionnaires were sent to them. One of them concerned the past and present cigarette smoking. The researchers wanted to know how many cigarettes were smoked per day and for how long. Repentant tobacco are numerous: 54% of the volunteers had stopped smoking. Only 8% were smokers at the time of the study.

The authors have studied a particular phenomenon, that of light smokers. In the public arena, low tobacco consumption is considered at low risk of associated diseases. This is particularly the case among young people. An idea, well understood, false, as recalled by the publication. Even below 10 cigarettes a day in their lives, smokers are at higher risk of death compared to those who never smoked.

Risks exploding
Even at a very low level – ie one cigarette a day – consumers are 64% more prone to premature mortality from all causes. The record is even less reassuring when the pathologies associated with tobacco are analyzed one by one. The likelihood of developing lung cancer is increased ninefold in the context of a “small” consumption. Respiratory diseases are also six times more prevalent in this population.

Every year, 5 million deaths are attributed to smoking. But former smokers clearly benefit from their decision: the risk declined gradually. More weaning was performed at a young age, most premature mortality returns to normal.

At the end of the Self (s) without tobacco, these results provide additional motivation to 180,000 volunteers who are weaned. They can also take comfort in the idea that this arrest five months multiplied by their chances of not resume smoking.