Smoking a single cigarette can take around 20 minutes off a person’s life, according to research commissioned by the Department of Health.
In a report, published in the journal Addiction, researchers at University College London found that the average loss of life per cigarette smoked was 17 minutes for men and 22 minutes for women.
Researchers analysed data on health outcomes for smokers in Britain from two studies spanning decades; the British Doctors Study and the Million Women Study.
Building on a previous study published in the British Medical Journal in 2000, which showed that on average a single cigarette reduced life expectancy by about 11 minutes, they calculated the impact of smoking, per cigarette, based on the collated data.
The results showed that a 20-pack of cigarettes could shorten a person’s life by nearly seven hours.
“The evidence suggests people lose, on average, around 20 minutes of life for each cigarette they smoke,” said Sarah Jackson, Principal Research Fellow at the UCL Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group. “The sooner a person stops smoking, the longer they live.”
“It is vital that people understand just how harmful smoking is and how much quitting can improve their health and life expectancy.“
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health in the UK. It causes around 80,000 deaths a year in the UK and 1 in 4 of all cancer deaths in England. More than half (53%) of smokers in the UK said they were planning on quitting smoking as a New Year’s resolution for 2025, according to a survey conducted by Censuswide.
Commenting on the results, NHS GP and TV doctor, Dr Sarah Jarvis said “as a GP, I see first hand the devastating effects smoking can have on health. Each cigarette smoked not only shortens life expectancy but also significantly increases the risk of many health conditions including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, dementia and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).”
