---

---

---

---

Science RSS News Feeds

---

---

Email a Friend Printer Friendly

Smokers more likely to be disabled in later life

July 13, 2000

Smokers are not only likely to die earlier than non-smokers, but they are more
likely to spend more of their life with a disability than non-smokers, finds
research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. And this is
despite the fact that non-smokers, by virtue of living longer, would be expected
to experience more disability.

The study included over 5500 adults from the ages of 15 to 74 living in
Eindhoven and surrounding districts in the Netherlands, and a further 7500
elderly people living in the USA. Their overall life expectancies were assessed
at the ages of 30 and 70, as well as their life expectancies with and without
disability.

The researchers found that the prevalence of disability at each age was lower
among non-smokers than among former and current smokers. Non-smokers tended to
live fewer years with disability despite living longer. This is because they run
lower risks of developing disability through cardiovascular disease, for
example, but also because they recovered more quickly from episodes of
disability.

At the age of 30 non-smoking men could expect reductions of 11 months and women
13 months in the amount of time spent with a disability. Men who gave up smoking
could expect to live 2.5 years, and women just under two years longer, without a
disability. The effects were still seen at the age of 70 but were less
pronounced.

The authors conclude that giving up smoking not only lengthens lifespan and
increases the length of time lived without a disability, but also compresses
disability into shorter periods.

Bradford, University of