Effects of Smoking and Smoking Cessation on Life Expectancy in an Elderly Population in Beijing, China, 1992–2000: An 8-Year Follow-up Study

Abstract

BackgroundWe assessed the effects of smoking and smoking cessation on life expectancy and active life expectancy among persons aged 55 years or older in Beijing.MethodsThis study included 1593 men and 1664 women who participated in the Beijing Longitudinal Study of Aging, which commenced in 1992 and had 4 survey waves up to year 2000. An abridged life table was used to estimate life expectancy, in which age-specific mortality and age-specific disability rates were adjusted by using a discrete-time hazard model to control confounders.ResultsThe mean ages (SD) for men and women were 70.1 (9.25) and 70.2 (8.72) years, respectively; mortality and disability rates during follow-up were 34.7% and 8.0%, respectively. In both sexes, never smokers had the highest life expectancy and active life expectancy across ages, as compared with current and former smokers. Current heavy smokers had a shorter life expectancy and a shorter active life expectancy than light smokers. Among former smokers, male long-term quitters had a longer life expectancy and longer active life expectancy than short-term quitters, but this was not the case in women.ConclusionsOlder adults remain at higher risk of mortality and morbidity from smoking and can expect to live a longer and healthier life after smoking cessation.

Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy

“…24 At the person level, Beijing never smokers aged ≥55 years enjoyed a life expectancy 4.2–8.8 years longer than current smokers. 25 As for obesity, if all obese persons in the United States, one of the heaviest countries in the world, were to attain normal weight, life expectancy in the population was estimated to increase by 0.7–1.1 years at birth in one analysis 26 and 0.5–0.7 years at age 50 in another. 24 Thus, physical inactivity appears to have an impact comparable to smoking or obesity.…”

Does cigarette smoking exacerbate the effect of blood pressure on the risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among hypertensive patients?

“…Smoking is one of the leading preventable risk factors for all-cause and CVD mortality [22], which could potentially reduce life expectancy [23,24]. Previous prospective cohort studies have attempted to quantify the risk of smoking for CVD and all-cause mortality globally [2,[25][26][27][28].…”

Time-dependent depressive symptoms and risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among the Chinese elderly: The Beijing Longitudinal Study of Aging

“…Data for this analysis were acquired from the Beijing Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), a community-based prospective cohort of Chinese people aged 55 and older, conducted by the Beijing Xuanwu Hospital affiliated Capital Medical University [18]. A full description of sampling and data collection has been previously published elsewhere [19,20]. In brief, a random sample of 3257 community residents aged at least 55 years were recruited in August 1992 [21] based on a three-stage stratification random clustering procedure from three districts of Beijing (Xuanwu district, Daxing district, and Huairou district).…”