Benefits of quitting

The reports of the US Surgeon General on the
health consequences of smoking, released in 1990
and 2004, summarize abundant and significant
health benefits associated with giving up tobacco
[9,104]. Benefits noticed shortly after quitting (e.g.,
within 2weeks to 3months), include improvements
in pulmonary function and circulation. Within
1–9 months of quitting, the ciliary function of
the lung epithelium is restored. Initially, patients
might experience increased coughing as the lungs
clear excess mucus and tobacco smoke particu-
lates. In several months, smoking cessation results
inmeasurable improvements of lung function. Over
time, patients experience decreased coughing, sinus
congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath, and risk for
pulmonary infection and 1 year postcessation, the
excess risk for coronary heart disease is reduced to
half that of continuing smokers. After 5–15 years,
the risk for stroke is reduced to a rate similar to
that of people who are lifetime nonsmokers, and
10 years after quitting, an individual’s chance of
dying of lung cancer is approximately half that of
continuing smokers. Additionally, the risk of devel-
oping mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, bladder,
kidney, or pancreatic cancer is decreased. Finally,
15 years after quitting, a risk for coronary heart dis-
ease is reduced to a rate similar of that of peoplewho
have never smoked. Smoking cessation can also lead
to a significant reduction in the cumulative risk for
death from lung cancer, for males and females.
Smokers who are able to quit by age 35 can be
expected to live an additional 6–9 years compared
to those who continue to smoke [105]. Ossip-Klein
et al. [106] recently named tobacco use a “geriatric
health issue.” Indeed, a considerable proportion of
tobacco users continue to smoke well into their 70s
and 80s, despite the widespread knowledge of the
tobacco health hazards. Elderly smokers frequently
claim that the “damage is done,” and it is “too late
to quit;” however, a considerable body of evidence
refutes these statements. Even individuals who
postpone quitting until age 65 can incur up to four
additional years of life, compared with those who
continued to smoke [24,106]. Therefore, elderly
smokers should not be ignored as a potential target
for cessation efforts. Health care providers ought to
remember that it is never too late to advise their
elderly patients to quit and to incur health benefits.
A growing body of evidence indicates that con-
tinued smoking after a diagnosis of cancer has
substantial adverse effects. For example, these
studies indicate that smoking reduces the over-
all effectiveness of treatment, while causing com-
plications with healing as well as exacerbating
treatment side effects, increases risk of developing
second primary malignancy, and decreases over-
all survival rates [36–38,107–109]. On the other
hand, the medical, health, and psychosocial bene-
fits of smoking cessation among cancer patients are
promising. Gritz et al. [37] indicated that stopping
smoking prior to diagnosis and treatment can have a
positive influence on survival rates. Althoughmany
smoking cessation interventions are aimed at pri-
mary prevention of cancer, these results indicate
that there can be substantial medical benefits for
individuals who quit smoking after they are diag-
nosed with cancer.