. Stopping smoking in midlife significantly reduces the risk of lung cancer, a European study confirms

Stopping smoking in midlife significantly reduces the risk of subsequently developing lung cancer, according to a published in the "British Journal of Cancer" which confirms the work advanced by British European study findings.

Richard Peto, an epidemiologist and recognized specialist studies on the dangers of tobacco, published in the "British Medical Journal" a 50-year follow-up of a cohort of 34,000 British doctors in particular showing that "stop smoking at 60, 50, 40 or 30 saves respectively 3, 6, 9 or 10 years of life expectancy. "

"Among those who continue to smoke, half will be killed by their practice" of smoking, stressed Professor Peto.

The team led by Professor Brenmann of Gene-Environment Epidemiology Group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, Lyon), wanted to confirm these results by expanding their work to three other European countries, where smoking habits differ and where the "epidemic" of lung cancer is not at the same stage.

Researchers have used it to data from a case-control study said, multicentre study in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Sweden from 6523 patients with lung cancer and 9,468 people using healthy controls.

Combining risk estimates with estimates of national incidence rates of lung cancer, they calculated that the cumulative lung cancer in smokers over 75 years of risk was 15.7% in the United Kingdom, 14.3% in Germany and 13.8% in Italy, and only 6.6% in Sweden.

The proportion of risk of lung cancer prevented by stopping smoking before the age of 40, however, is similar in the four countries studied, ranging from 80% in Italy to 91% in other countries. By stopping smoking before the age of 50, reducing the risk is lower, but still reached 57% in Italy and 69% in Germany.

"Our results support the conclusion that the 'old' Smokers who quit smoking in midlife and avoid much of the risk of lung cancer induced by smoking," the authors conclude. According to their predictions, "the mortality from lung cancer among Europeans over the next three decades will be determined by the success of smoking cessation reached by smokers who wanted to kick the habit."