Effect Of Smoking On Years Of Healthy Life (YHL)

Overview

Strong evidence from the medical and scientific community links smoking to high rates of early mortality, lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke. However, little research has been done on the effects smoking has on a person's quality of life. This study aims to explain the impact of smoking on long-term quality of life as well as its burden to society in terms of healthy years of life lost among the smoking population.

Design

The researchers used two phone surveys, the Health and Retirement Survey and the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old, to examine the impact of smoking on quality of life among 20,776 smokers and their spouses. All survey participants were at least fifty years old.

Before studying the effect of smoking on an older person's life, the researchers had to define quality of life. Typically, quality of life is defined as the degree to which a person feels s/he can function physically, emotionally, and socially. For this study, quality of life is measured by how many years of healthy life are remaining - or years of life that are expected to be free of impairment, disability, or significant morbidity. This measure is simply called "years of healthy life" (YHL).

In order to conduct a fair analysis, the researchers divided survey participants into current, former, and never smokers. Then, they collected information on weekly physical activity, alcohol consumption and alcohol history, body mass index (BMI), age, marital status, socioeconomic status, and education.

Findings

The researchers found that smoking had a clear dose-response relation with both years of life remaining and healthy years remaining among middle-aged respondents. In other words, the more middle-aged people smoked, the fewer years of life and years of healthy life they had remaining. For both men and women, those who had never smoked had the most years of life and of healthy life remaining, current smokers had the least, and former smokers fell between the two groups.

Then, when looking at the effect of quitting smoking on years of life remaining, the researchers learned that quitting improves both expected years of life remaining as well as expected healthy life years remaining. In fact, among those who had been quit for at least 15 years, they had a quality of life and years of life remaining that was identical to that of non-smokers. Therefore, it is important for people to quit smoking in their middle-age in order to improve their chances of having a longer, healthier life.

Conclusion

Smoking has a clear and strong association with both years of life lost and years of healthy life lost in middle-aged and elderly men and women - smoking not only reduces the quality of life but also shortens life. Quitting smoking is the most important thing a middle-aged or older American can do to improve his/her chances of living a longer, healthier life.

• Press Room
  • Press Release Archive
  • Print Article Archive
  • Web Article Archive
• Research Library
• CBS Services
• Our Clients
• Leadership Team
• Employment
  • Job Postings