Even Light Smoking Tied to Increased Mortality Risk

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

People who consistently smoke less than one cigarette a day (but more than zero) still have a higher mortality risk than those who've never smoked, according to a JAMA Internal Medicine study.

Roughly 300,000 adults aged 59–82 completed questionnaires about their lifetime smoking histories. During a mean follow-up of 6.6 years, 13% of participants died. Compared with people who never smoked, those who reported consistently smoking less than 1 or 1–10 cigarettes a day had higher risks for all-cause mortality (hazard ratios, 1.64 and 1.87). People who used to smoke at these levels but who quit still had elevated mortality risks relative to never smokers, but the risks were lower than those of current low-intensity smokers.

The authors conclude: "These findings provide further evidence that there is no safe level of cigarette smoking. All smokers should be targeted for smoking cessation, regardless of how few cigarettes they smoke per day."