Past Older Smokers can Still Reap the Benefits of Cardiovascular Health

Whether you picked up smoking in your teens or you're wanting to quit as an adult, a new study shows that it's never too late to reap the benefits of heart health.

Recent research regarding smokers older than 65 years of age shows that they can still quit and greatly lower their risk of cardiovascular disease-related deaths to a level that suggests they have never smoked.

Researchers found that older individuals who smoked less than 32 "pack years" or 3.2 packs a day for no more than 10 years or less gave up smoking 15 or fewer years ago in order to cut their risk of developing cardiovascular issues that could lead to potentially fatal consequences.

As previous studies have shown that it took up to 15 years or more for some individuals to abstain from smoking in order to reap heart health benefits, these latest findings suggest otherwise.

"it's good news," Ali Ahmed, M.D., M.P.H., senior researcher and professor of cardiovascular disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Medicine said, via a press release. "Now there's a chance for even less of a waiting period to get a cleaner bill of cardiovascular health."

Researchers examined 853 individuals who had quit smoking 15 years or fewer before to 2,557 who had  never smoked.

Three hundred and nineteen former smokers involved in the study had smoked less that 32 packs. Study authors determined pack years by multiplying the number of cigarette packs smoked per day by the number of years each individual smoked.

Despite the adjustment of age, gender and race for all study participants (all of whom were 65 and older), unrelated health risks from smoking were still as high for those who smoked less than 32 pack years but quit 15 years ago or fewer. For instance, these individuals were just as likely to be at an increased risk for cancer, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The findings regarding the study were presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Session 2013.