"If women smoke like men, they die than men," study author says

CTVNews. ca staff
Published Saturday, January 26, 2013 6: 44 PM EST
Last updated on Saturday, January 26, 2013 11: 13 PM EST

Recent research finds that women are catching up to men when it comes to the risk of death from smoking.

The study, published earlier this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, looking at the first generation of women in the United States, who started smoking in the early life and continue smoking for decades.

Although some studies suggested the risks of smoking in the 1980s, women were low, this study found that female smoking began to mirror the men 's, so is their mortality rate.

"The perils of women who continue to smoke are now estimated to have a majority of smokers," the study's authors said.

in the 1980s, a woman's risk of dying from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other smoking-related causes rose by 50%.

"Basically, if women smoke like men, they die than men," study author Dr. Prhabhat JHA told CTV News. "This means about a decade of life. Not for a few years, but the whole of the Decade--a healthy Decade of life lost. "

The study, which looked at the medical records of the u.s. National interview, the investigation found, who never smoked were twice as likely to age 80 than those who had to live in.

And while the study found that smoking cut about 10 years off of the human life span, it was also found that smokers who quit before the end of the 40-year-old will be able to get back to many years back.

According to the survey, people who quit smoking between the ages of 35 and 44 received about nine years of my life back. Those who finish the 45-54 and 55-64 years of age received six years of life, respectively.

Dr. Tim McAfee U.s. Center for Disease Control, said the results are significant.

"Someone who quits before the age of 40, they will get a lot back. They get almost a decade of life, which is incredible, "McAfee said.

Jha said, these findings mean that it is OK to burn until you're 40. However, it dispels the idea that if you've smoked for over ten years, it is too late to stop, he said.

"Quitting at any age, but especially useful, if you quit before the age of 40, you get close to the never smoker death rates," Jha said.

"The most important message is stopped the works," he added. "Smoking at a young age--even the 40-year-old avoids approximately 90% was consistently burn."

The study looked at data from the u.s. national death index, which focuses on people's records, which had 16,000 dead and report smoking earlier in life.

But smoking cessation experts say that research is worrying.

The Manitoba tobacco reduction Alliance Chairman Murray Gibson said there's no such thing as a "safe" amount of smoking and many are struggling to stop addictive habit.

"A lot of young people or young people between the ages of, say," Oh, when I get to be 40, but I'm gonna quit. What they don't understand is the difficulty that might be trying to do, "' he said.

Explanation of Winnipeg CTV's Bureau Chief Jill Macyshon