Smoking Among Older Adults

Factsheet - September 1998

Older adults began smoking before its harmful effects were well understood. This generation of Americans is now experiencing the health consequences of an average of 40 years of smoking. An estimated 430,700 Americans die each year from diseases caused by smoking. Smoking is responsible for an estimated one in five U.S. deaths and costs the U.S. at least $97.2 billion each year in health care costs and lost productivity.  Quitting smoking has proven health benefits, even at a late age.

• More than 13 million Americans over the age of 50 smoke. Older smokers are significantly less likely than younger smokers to believe that smoking harms their health.

• Smoking is a major risk factor for six of 14 major causes of death for persons 60 years of age or older. One of every three deaths among older men who smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day is related to smoking.

• High nicotine brands of cigarettes are popular with older smokers, with 58 percent smoking brands with estimated nicotine levels of 1.0 mg. Older smokers are highly nicotine dependent as measured by the need to smoke within 30 minutes of waking.

• Older smokers aged 50 to 74 are less likely to have tried to quit than smokers aged 21 to 49.

• Smokers who think they can quit are two and a half times more likely to be contemplating quitting than other smokers. Self help and formal smoking cessation treatments for older adults must emphasize strategies to overcome high levels of nicotine dependence and lifelong psychological dependence on smoking.

• Each day 1,180 people die in the United States from diseases related to smoking. Smoking is responsible for 87 percent of lung cancer cases, 21 percent of deaths from heart disease, 18 percent of deaths from stroke, and 82 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis).

• Men 65 or older who smoke are twice as likely to die from a stroke, and women smokers are about one and a half times as likely to die from a stroke than their nonsmoking counterparts. The risk of dying from ischemic heart disease is 60 percent higher for smokers than nonsmokers 65 or older.

• Quitting smoking has proven health benefits, even at a late age. When an older person quits smoking, circulation improves immediately, and the lungs begin to repair damage. In one year, the added risk of heart disease is cut almost in half, and risk of stroke, lung disease, and cancer diminish.

• Of those who have quit, more than 90 percent have done so on their own, citing these reasons for quitting:
  • to maintain good health
  • to take control of their lives
  • to avoid the unpleasant smell of cigarettes

For more information call the American Lung Association at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872), or visit our web site at http://www.lungusa.org.

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