No matter how late, it pays to quit smoking

Kicking the smoking habit can add years to a person’s life even after lung disease has set in, researchers have found, further demonstrating that it is almost never too late to quit.

Their study reports that the death rate was cut nearly in half among middle-aged heavy smokers who managed to quit with the help of a targeted intervention program.

Researchers at 10 clinics studied 5,887 people aged 35 to 60 who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but who did not consider themselves ill. People with COPD have impaired breathing, and it is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

Half were put into a smoking cessation program involving a strong lecture from a doctor, behavior modification workshops and nicotine gum. The other half were told that smoking was harmful but got no treatment.

After 14 1/2 years, 731 of the people in the program had died -- 33% of lung cancer, 22% of heart disease or stroke and 7.8% of respiratory disease.

The report is in the Feb. 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.