Women who smoke and give up before the age of 30 avoid most of the risks linked to the habit – but those who carry on are in much greater danger than previously thought, according to a major UK research project.
As many as two-thirds of female smokers who die in their 50s, 60s and 70s are victims of their habit, according to the analysis.
The findings come from a study of more than a million British women conducted over the last 15 years.
Some 66,000 women have died during the period.
The researchers say the more a woman smokes the greater her risk – but even one cigarette a day doubles the risk of dying at any age.
Women who stopped smoking before the age of 30 avoided 97% of the risks linked to tobacco, according to the report in The Lancet.
Researcher Professor Sir Richard Peto, of Oxford University, said: "If women smoke like men, they die like men – but, whether they are men or women, smokers who stop before reaching middle age will on average gain about an extra ten years of life.
"Both in the UK and in the USA, women born around 1940 were the first generation in which many smoked substantial numbers of cigarettes throughout adult life. Hence, only in the 21st century could we observe directly the full effects of prolonged smoking, and of prolonged cessation, on premature mortality among women."
The Lancet October 27 2012; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61720-6
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