Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993 TAG: 9302180032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Short
STUDY FINDS SMOKING DEADLIER THAN BELIEVED
Smokers are three times more likely to die before the age of 70 than nonsmokers, scientists said in announcing the latest results of a 40-year study of the health of British doctors."These new results are much more extreme than had been suggested by the 20-year follow-up when premature death was `only' twice as common in smokers as in nonsmokers," said Sir Richard Doll, who identified the link between smoking and lung cancer.
Scientists said the gap has widened because nonsmokers have a longer life expectancy today than 20 years ago. Cigarette smokers are not living longer, said Doll, an investigator at the Imperial Cancer Research Center at Oxford University.
Death due to heart disease has dropped by 30 percent among nonsmokers, but has not dropped among smokers, said Doll, speaking Monday at the Royal Society, Britain's most prestigious scientific organization.
While cigarette smokers probably shared in some of the improvements that affected nonsmokers, such as coronary bypass surgery, hypotensive surgery and dietary change, "the benefits have been counterbalanced by the maturing of the smoking epidemic," said Doll.
The report includes a greater proportion of men who started smoking when they were teenagers. The earlier analysis, after 20 years, included doctors who started smoking later in life because smoking had not been fashionable when they were teenagers.
The results are based on the analysis of 34,439 male doctors who have been traced for 40 years. The study is known for providing some of the earliest evidence linking smoking and lung cancer. - Associated Press
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.