Heavy smokers who cut down on the number of cigarettes they have each day can also reduce their risk of lung cancer.
BEIJING, Sep. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Reducing the number of cigarettes smokers have each day may significantly reduce their risk of lang cancer, a new Danish study suggests.
However, giving up altogether is always the best way, said researchers.
"Smoking cessation and not smoking reduction should still be advocated as the ultimate method of reducing harm from smoking," wrote lead author Dr. Nina S. Godtfredsen, senior researcher at the Copenhagen Centre for Prospective Population Studies, Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen.
"My advice is smoking cessation since a smoker's risk of getting heart disease or chronic lung disease is much higher than getting lung cancer. And so far no study has shown any benefit from reducing smoking regarding heart or lung disease," Dr. Nina wrote in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Nearly 20,000 people in Denmark were followed for up to 31 years in the study.
The participants were divided into six groups, depending on their smoking habits: continued heavy smokers (15 or more cigarettes a day); reducers (those who reduced from 15 or more cigarettes a day by a minimum of 50 percent but did not quit altogether); continued light smokers (one to 14 cigarettes a day); quitters (those who stopped between the first and second examination); stable ex-smokers; and never smokers.
Compared with persistent heavy smokers, reducers had a 27 percent lower risk of lung cancer; light smokers had a 56 percent lower risk; quitters a 50 percent reduction; stable ex-smokers an 83 percent reduction; and nonsmokers, less than 1 percent.
Lung cancer is the world's No. 1 cause of cancer deaths. An estimated nine out of 10 of those cases are related to tobacco, wrote the researchers. Enditem
(Agencies)
|
