Study: Quitting Smoking Limits Cancer Risk at All Ages

Facts

• A recent study by South Korea's National Cancer Center found that quitting smoking lowers the risk of developing cancer at any age. The study, published in Jama Network Open on Tuesday, discovered that the biggest significant reduction in cancer risk occurred after the first decade of quitting.¹
• The researchers followed nearly 3M people over the age of 30 with an average follow-up of 13 years. In contrast to those who continued to smoke, those who quit smoking entirely had a 17% reduced overall cancer risk.²
• After a period of 15 years after quitting, the study suggested that cancer rates dropped by 50%.³
• Smokers who quit before the age of 50 may see a greater risk reduction in lung cancer compared to those who quit after 50. The hazard ratio for quitting before 50 was 0.43, compared to 0.61 after 50.²
• The results also aligned with a previous study that suggested that liver cancer rates are very similar between non-smokers and smokers who had quit for over 10 years.²

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²Medicalnewstoday and ³Managed Healthcare Executive.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Medical News Today. The study's findings are significant because they show that quitting smoking reduces the risk of cancer at any age, but especially after ten years. The most crucial finding from this study's large sample size is that you can quit smoking at any age. Even if you quit later in life, there are significant health benefits.
• Narrative B, as provided by Managed Healthcare Executive. The precise number of years of continuous non-smoking required to observe a significant risk decrease remains unclear, even with this study. Due to a smaller sample size of women and an inadequate follow-up duration for age-related relationships, the study may contain a degree of selection bias. More research is necessary on this important topic.