Smokers often die prematurely: study

Reuters Health ^ | Mon Mar 20, 2006 | Megan Rauscher

[rarestia]

[technomage]

SEE- I can do studies, TOO!

No, no, no. You first need to go to the government to get a large grant of taxpayer money to do a study on the insanely obvious.

Next, you spend years enjoying the good life.

Finally, you present your 'findings' to the world and the world is stunned at your findings, calling you cutting edge.

[FOG724]

It doesn't really say they died from smoking related illness. You got to wonder how many died in accidents while trying to hold that cigarette and do something else at the same time.

[Zavien Doombringer]

[Tijeras_Slim]

Quit today... add decades as a Lab View programmer to your life.

[OldSmaj]

Cigarette smoking strongly increases the risk of dying in middle age for both men and women, but kicking the habit, even at older ages, strongly decreases the risk of dying prematurely.

My father, who is now 82 and acts and looks 62, smoked from the age of 9.

At least one, sometimes two and occasionally three packs of "Winstons" per day, which he switched to from "Old Gold", "Chesterfields" and "Pall Mall".

He quit at about 55 or so and has rarely been sick, other than occasional colds and a flu bout one year.

I hope there is some truth to the "good genes" thing, and the passing along thereof.

[D-Chivas]

My grandfather smoked Lucky Strikes (no filter) until he died at age 84. Splitting wood every day probably helped.

[Redcloak]

"...and this just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow."

[kinghorse]

That's sort of bs and you know it. I'm definitely not accepting of the signs but for sure you can spend your 80's on the golf course and not in a diaper if you stay active and watch your health. Like I said, my dad's testament to this, not me.

[cripplecreek]

It is series and I lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of the juice.

[CSM]

"...died between 40 and 70 years of age...."

That is quite a wide range and I wouldn't consider SS eligible seniors to be "middle aged." I also notice that I didn't see the average life expectancy for people born in 1936 anywhere in the article.

[Smokin' Joe]

I wonder if they compared smokers and non-smokers with identical occupations if that data would hold? But noooooo. That won't happen.

[Labyrinthos]

My father, who is now 82 and acts and looks 62, smoked from the age of 9.

He's one of the lucky ones. My neighbor just tunred 60, but he looks 82, can't talk louder than a whisper, and can't climb the stairs to the second floor of his house, yet he still smokes a pack of Marlboro lights a day. There will always be exceptions to the general rule, but from a statistical standpoint, people who smoke die younger than those who don't.

[CougarGA7]

If you did LabVIEW programming you would want to die young too.

[technomage]

Oh sure, it sounds simple. But, I get nauseous thinking about the people I would have to associate with.

But, do you really have to associate with anyone when doing a study on the insanely obvious?

Just enjoy yourself for a few years, then write anything you want. You will be a hero.

I swear, that is how many of these supposed studies are conducted now-a-days. Get yourself a grant for 30 million, sit back and enjoy, then present a study with facts that everyone has known for 25 years.

What a life!!

[jerry639]

I'm 66 years old. Soon to be 67. Have smoked for the past 40 years. Still raise a garden each year, do a lot of woodworking, keep the lawn mowed on 3/8 of an acre in town, have 10 acres in the country that I keep looking nice, fish, hunt, train beagle hounds, active in clubs, and active in politics.
Now what I want to know is: Why do I keep seeing all these 40 and 50 year olds in the obituary each week?
OH Yeah! Must be their smoking that is killing them.

[DumpsterDiver]

"This study," he added in comments to Reuters Health, "confirms once again that cigarette smokers are much more likely than nonsmokers to die prematurely which cheats us all of the tobacco tax money they were paying."

"The good news is that quitting smoking substantially reduces the excess risk of dying prematurely giving us the opportunity to tax them for something else."