Contact: David M. Burns, MD
(619) 294-6453
dburns@ucsd.edu

Elderly Smokers Also Benefit From Quitting

Some healthcare givers assume elderly smokers won't benefit from quitting. This view is misguided, and elderly smokers who want to quit need more support, suggest the results of a research review.

"As individuals in our society live longer, a larger number of smokers who are over age 60 will seek medical care and will benefit from cessation efforts," said study author David M. Burns, MD, of the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

"This is a population where preventive services should not be ignored," added Burns, who analyzed a range of studies on smoking and the elderly.

Older smokers have traditionally been less likely than younger smokers to attempt quitting, but those who do try are more likely than younger smokers to seek assistance and to be successful in their quitting efforts.

Burns found that smoking takes a higher toll on the elderly. It causes cumulative damage that increases the risk of death and of smoking-related diseases with every birthday celebrated. Approximately 70 percent of the 400,000 individuals who die each year from smoking-related causes are over 60, according to the study.

"Cigarette smoking can be conceptualized as a disease contracted in adolescence that causes death and disability predominantly at older ages," noted Burns, who published his review in the July/August special issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

The three diseases that kill smokers are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and coronary artery disease. Lung cancer tends to result after years of accumulated damage to cells exposed to carcinogens. COPD, which causes emphysema, results after years of damage to the small airway walls of the lungs.

Heart disease caused by smoking-induced hardening of the arteries tends to have a shorter lag time than the other two conditions. Thus, in addition to killing elderly smokers, it is the greatest cause of smoking-induced mortality for smokers under 50.

Burns's analysis suggests that elderly smokers who quit do bounce back, although not as well or as quickly as younger smokers who quit. The risk of lung cancer declines in those who quit after age 60, for example, but this decline in risk appears to be smaller and slower to manifest than for younger smokers.

Heart disease risk also declines for elderly quitters, but less dramatically than for younger quitters. And elderly quitters with COPD usually can't reverse the lung damage already done, but they can prevent more smoking-induced lung damage.

The benefits of quitting may be proportionally less for elderly smokers, but there is little doubt that quitting at any age offers benefits, according to the researcher. "Cessation, even at ages over 60 years, can have a substantial effect on rates of smoking-induced disease and remains the most effective method of reducing smoking-induced disease risk for elderly smokers," Burns concluded.

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The American Journal of Health Promotion is a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the field of health promotion. For information about the journal call (248) 682-0707 or visit the journal's Web site at www.healthpromotionjournal.com.