According to a new study, smoking may outweigh other characteristics, such as affluence, in lowering lifetime. The researcher from the University of California, Riverside, the findings further proved that smoking shortens our lives and that quitting smoking may be a more cost-effective and efficient way to live longer.
"Our findings imply that, even if income has a causal effect on mortality, it is no match for smoking's impact. You should avoid cancer sticks if you want to live longer "Georgetown University's Dana Glei, a co-author, said.
The new study found that persons with at least USD 300,000 in assets had a 19 percentage point better chance of surviving from 65 to 85 than those with no assets. However, the gap between those who had never smoked and current smokers was 37 percentage points. Wealth was measured in 1995 dollars due to the way the data was collected. In today's wealth, USD 300,000 is equal to USD 558,000 dollars.
The discrepancy in mortality caused by wealth was greater than the disparity in education, occupation, income, or childhood socioeconomic status. But, of all the variables, smoking made the biggest effect. The researchers examined the impact of childhood socioeconomic position, education, occupation, income, wealth, and smoking history on mortality in individuals aged 20 to 92 years old using data from 6,320 participants.
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