Tobacco remains the top cause of cancer death worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco kills nearly five million people in the world every year. In the United States alone, tobacco kills more than 440,000 people each year. The leading cancer is lung cancer, causing more than 160,000 deaths annually.
Of course, not smoking and not breathing in secondhand smoke are the best ways to avoid lung cancer. It's never too late (or too early) to quit. And, if you've tried and failed before, you might succeed this time. But…
What if you just can't seem to quit?
An observational, population-based study of nearly 20,000 men and women with up to 31 years of follow-up found that heavy smokers – those who smoke 15 or more cigarettes a day – could significantly reduce their risk of lung cancer by cutting their habit in half.
"Reducing tobacco consumption from approximately 20 cigarettes per day to less than 10 was associated with a 27-percent reduction in lung cancer risk compared with unchanged heavy smoking," the study authors wrote. Risk of lung cancer among the stable ex-smokers was 83 percent lower than among the heavy smokers. And the risk among those who never smoked was 97-percent less than heavy smokers.
"Undoubtedly, smoking cessation decreases the risk of lung and other tobacco-related cancers," commented the authors. However, "only a minority of the smokers are actually able to achieve and sustain a considerable reduction in cigarettes per day."
If you're a smoker who can't or doesn't want to quit, consider cutting back. This study seems to indicate that the fewer cigarettes you smoke, the more you reduce your lung cancer risk. |
