Women improve faster It takes about 20 years for mens’ health to rebound but as little as 10 for women
Former smokers are reaping the benefit of quitting by seeing their baseline health return to the same levels as someone their age who has never smoked, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
Smoking rates have steadily de-clined across Canada for the past 30 years, with Health Canada statistics showing smoking rates more than halved from 35 percent of the population smoking in 1985 to 17 percent in 2011.
That is largely due to efforts by communities and government to provide better youth education, legislation and cessation programs.
The report showed health benefits accorded to former smokers after an average of five years smoke-free include lower rates of heart disease and stroke.
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It also showed a surprising difference between men and women in the length of time it takes to return to the same health baseline as a person who has never smoked. On average, it takes a man 20 years to return to baseline health after quitting smoking but it may take as little as 10 years for a woman.
Statistics Canada senior researcher Didier Garriguet said that’s likely because of different smoking behaviours.
“Some possible explanations are that women and men have different patterns of smoking, so essentially men start smoking at an earlier age and women tend to smoke less cigarettes than men do,” he said.
Saskatchewan currently has a high number of smokers at 19.2 percent, with only Quebec having higher numbers. British Columbia had the lowest at 14.2 percent.
Tyler McMurchy of Saskatchewan’s health ministry is tackling tobacco use with a variety of reduction strategies.
During National Non-Smoking Week in January, the ministry launched phase two of an anti-tobacco campaign aimed at persuading youth to stay tobacco-free.
The campaign included a television and cinema ad and online and Facebook ads featuring a series of comments from Saskatchewan youth, with a strong anti-tobacco message.
McMurchy said legislation was introduced to reduce smoking and the harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke.
“We have provided significant support for people trying to quit using tobacco, offered a range of training and resources for health-care professionals and facilitated greater collaboration between tobacco reduction stakeholders in the province.”
Options available to help smokers quit include www.makeapact.ca or Smoker’s Helpline at 877-513-5333.
