Smokers More Likely To Be Disabled In Later Life - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Nutrition Health Review, Wntr, 2001

THE NETHERLANDS --Smokers not only are likely to die earlier than nonsmokers but also are more likely to spend more of their life with a disability than nonsmokers, according to new research.

The study included more than 5,500 adults from the ages of 15 to 74 living in Eindhoven and surrounding districts in the Netherlands and 7,500 elderly people living in the United States. Their overall life expectancies, as well as their life expectancies with and without disability, were assessed at the ages of 30 and 70 years.

The prevalence of disability at each age was lower among nonsmokers than among former and current smokers. Nonsmokers tended to live fewer years with disability despite living longer. This is because they run lower risks of developing disability through cardiovascular disease, for example, but also because they recovered more quickly from episodes of disability.

At age 30, nonsmoking men could expect reductions of 11 months and women 13 months in the amount of time spent with a disability. Men who gave up smoking could expect to live 2.5 years, and women just under two years longer, without a disability. The effects were still seen at age 70 but were less pronounced.

It was concluded that giving up smoking not only lengthens life expectancy and increases the length of time lived without a disability but also compresses disability into shorter periods.

(From Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2000; Vol. 54:566-574.)