A single cigarette reduces the smoker’s life expectancy by an average of 20 minutes, according to a new study by University College London (UCL).
This means that a pack of 20 cigarettes takes nearly seven hours off the life of a smoker.
As researchers point out, if someone quits smoking on the first day of the new year, they could gain an extra day of life by 8 January and an additional week by 5 February.
If they manage to stay away from cigarettes for an entire year, they could prevent the loss of approximately 50 days of life.
The UCL study was commissioned by the UK Department of Health and based on data from two long-running investigations into the effects of smoking: the British Doctors Study, conducted since 1951, and the Million Women Study, launched in 1996.
The previous similar study, conducted in 2000, concluded that each cigarette reduced life expectancy by 11 minutes.
“People generally know that smoking is harmful, but they tend to underestimate just how significant the risk is,” said Dr Sarah Jackson, one of the lead researchers at UCL.
Smoking remains one of the largest preventable causes of disease and death, killing two-thirds of long-term smokers. In the UK, it causes around 80,000 deaths annually, and specifically in England, it is responsible for one in four cancer deaths.
Also read: UK: NHS to offer anti-smoking pill
Source: Cyprus News Agency (CNA)
