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(38) Quit Smoking

Smoking Causes Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema

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Does my risk for a specific illness related to smoking change after I quit smoking?

If you stop smoking, the benefits to your health and longevity are great. Becoming smoke free has health benefits no matter how long you have smoked. The body starts repairing itself almost immediately after smoking cessation, but some organs may not be able to recover completely, depending upon the length of time you have smoked.In general, the excess risk among former smokers drops substantially in the first two to three years.

 

Thereafter, the rate of decline decreases so that it takes up to 10 years for former smokers to reach the same risk level as that of persons who have never smoked. The slow decline in all morbidity and mortality due to coronary heart disease is related to reversal of some atherogenic effects of smoking. The risk of myocardial infarction diminishes by almost one-third after the first year of smoking cessation and reaches the level of persons who have never smoked by the third or fourth year.

The rapid decline in heart attack (myocardial infarction) risk is thought to be due to a rapid reversal of hypercoagulability induced by smoking. The risk of sudden death due to all cardiovascular events takes longer to be reduced to nonsmokers’ levels, anywhere from 5 to 15 years.

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