Cited by 2,920Smoking Behavior and CessationGlobal Cancer Incidence and ScreeningChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research

Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors

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Doll, Richard, Peto, Richard, Boreham, Jillian, Sutherland, Isabelle·2004·BMJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare the hazards of cigarette smoking in men who formed their habits at different periods, and the extent of the reduction in risk when cigarette smoking is stopped at different ages. DESIGN: Prospective study that has continued from 1951 to 2001. SETTING: United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: 34 439 male British doctors. Information about their smoking habits was obtained in 1951, and periodically thereafter; cause specific mortality was monitored for 50 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall mortality by smoking habit, considering separately men born in different periods. RESULTS: The excess mortality associated with smoking chiefly involved vascular, neoplastic, and respiratory diseases that can be caused by smoking. Men born in 1900-1930 who smoked only cigarettes and continued smoking died on average about 10 years younger than lifelong non-smokers. Cessation at age 60, 50, 40, or 30 years gained, respectively, about 3, 6, 9, or 10 years of life expectancy. The excess mortality associated with cigarette smoking was less for men born in the 19th century and was greatest for men born in the 1920s. The cigarette smoker versus non-smoker probabilities of dying in middle age (35-69) were 42% nu 24% (a twofold death rate ratio) for those born in 1900-1909, but were 43% nu 15% (a threefold death rate ratio) for those born in the 1920s. At older ages, the cigarette smoker versus non-smoker probabilities of surviving from age 70 to 90 were 10% nu 12% at the death rates of the 1950s (that is, among men born around the 1870s) but were 7% nu 33% (again a threefold death rate ratio) at the death rates of the 1990s (that is, among men born around the 1910s). CONCLUSION: A substantial progressive decrease in the mortality rates among non-smokers over the past half century (due to prevention and improved treatment of disease) has been wholly outweighed, among cigarette smokers, by a progressive increase in the smoker nu non-smoker death rate ratio due to earlier and more intensive use of cigarettes. Among the men born around 1920, prolonged cigarette smoking from early adult life tripled age specific mortality rates, but cessation at age 50 halved the hazard, and cessation at age 30 avoided almost all of it.

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Müller FH. Tabakmissbrauch und lungencarcinoma. Zeitschrift Krebsforsch 1939;49:57- 85.
  2. Wassink WF. Onstaansvoorwasrden voor Longkanker. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1948;92:3732-47.
  3. Wynder EL, Graham EA. Tobacco smoking as a possible etiologic factor in bronchogenic carcinoma. JAMA 1950;143:329-36.
  4. Thun MJ, Peto R, Lopez AD, Monaco JH, Henley J, Heath CW, et al. Alcohol consump- tion and mortality among middle-aged and elderly US adults. N Engl J Med 1997; 337:1705-14.
  5. Lam TH, Ho SY, Hedley AJ, Mak KH, Peto R. Mortality and smoking in Hong Kong: a case-controlled study of all adult deaths in 1998. BMJ 2001;323:1-6.

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Authors
Doll, R., Peto, R., Boreham, J., & Sutherland, I.
Affiliations
University of Oxford (GB)
Corresponding author
Doll, Richard
Venue
BMJ
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2004-06-22
Volume
328
Issue
7455
Pages
1519
ISSN
  • 0007-1447 (ISSN-L)
  • 0959-8138
  • 1468-5833
OpenAlex
W4292672078
Cited by
2,920
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 81 · 2025: 79 · 2024: 125 · 2023: 135 · 2022: 127 · 2021: 134 · 2020: 159 · 2019: 135 · 2018: 158 · 2017: 134 · 2016: 153 · 2015: 165 · 2014: 146 · 2013: 182 · 2012: 162
FWCI
59.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMJ (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Cancer Research UK
  • British Heart Foundation
  • University of Oxford
  • Medical Research Council
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Global Cancer Incidence and Screening
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
Keywords
cigarette smoking, mortality, smoking cessation, life expectancy, birth cohort differences, vascular disease, neoplasms, respiratory diseases, smoking intensity, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, alcohol consumption, tobacco control, smoking cessation counseling, smoking cessation interventions
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cause of Death, Epidemiologic Methods, United Kingdom, Humans, Lung Neoplasms, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, Neoplasms, Physicians, Prospective Studies, Smoking, Smoking Cessation, Age Distribution

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