A recent Australian study shows that smoking shortens a life span by an average of ten years, the difference between smokers and nonsmokers. Moreover, two out of three smokers are expected to die from smoking-related diseases.
The comprehensive study involved some 200,000 Australians from age 45 and up, who were free of cancer and heart disease at the onset of the study. An examination of the death rate amongst this group showed that statistically, the smokers were expected to die from smoking-related diseases ten years earlier than their counterparts.
An additional factor showed that while earlier studies indicated that one out of every two smokers died from smoking-related diseases, this recent study upped the statistic to two out of every three, if their smoking persisted. The study determined that a person who smokes ten cigarettes per day is doubling his chances of dying prematurely, while heavy smokers (a pack a day) increase the danger by four times or more.
The good news is that one can repair the damage. The death rate of people who stopped smoking by the age of 45 was not significantly different from those who never smoked.
