Subject: The Statistics Canada Daily Report for: 2001-06-22

This section is taken from a downloadable PDF file:

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/010622/d010622.pdf

Friday, June 22, 2001. For release at 8:30 a.m.


    Impact of smoking on life expectancy and disability

        Smokers spend a larger proportion of their lives coping with
        functional disabilities than do non-smokers, and they are far
        more likely to die prematurely, according to a study on the
        relationship between smoking and disability-free life
        expectancy.

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Impact of smoking on life expectancy and disability

   Smokers spend a larger proportion of their lives coping with functional
disabilities than do non-smokers, and they are far more likely to die
prematurely, according to a study on the relationship between smoking and
disability-free life expectancy.

   The study, which analyzes data from the National Population Health
Survey, found that smoking not only reduces the number of years that a
person may hope to live, it also has a negative impact on their quality of
life. Smoking has been associated with a variety of chronic conditions
ranging from bronchitis to asthma to high blood pressure.

   Of every 100 non-smoking men aged 45 in 1995, about 90 will survive to
the age of 65, and 55 will still be living at the age of 80.

   However, of every 100 male smokers aged 45, 80 will survive to the age
of 65, and fewer than 30 will still be living at the age of 80.

   Among women, the percentage of survivors is higher for both smokers and
non-smokers. However, the consequences of tobacco use are just as evident.
Among women who were aged 45 in 1995, about 70% of non-smokers will
survive to the age of 80, compared with only about 40% of those who
smoked.

   Data also show that non-smokers are expected to live a higher
proportion of their life without any disability. Among both men and women,
two-thirds of non-smokers will survive without any disability to the age
of 65, compared with less than half of smokers. In addition, 25% of male
non-smokers and 30% of female non-smokers who live to the age of 80 will
have no disability, compared with less than 10% for both men and women who
smoke.
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Note to readers

   This release is based on one of five studies in the annual publication
Report on the demographic situation in Canada, available today.

   The data for the article on the impact of smoking came from the
longitudinal component of the National Population Health Survey, conducted
by Statistics Canada since 1994. The survey gathers detailed information
on the state of physical and mental health, functional capabilities, use
of and access to health care, chronic health problems and life habits and
behaviour related to health. The information is reported by the
respondents themselves during a telephone interview.

   The sample used in this study is representative of the Canadian
population aged 45 and older living in private households and in health
care establishments in 1994.

   In this study, smokers and non-smokers are defined as follows: a smoker
is a respondent who reports either that he or she smoked daily, smoked
occasionally but was a former daily smoker, or a formerly smoked daily but
had stopped within the past five years. A non-smoker is a respondent who
never smoked, who smokes only occasionally, or who smoked daily but
stopped more than five years ago.
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Significant differences in life expectancy between smokers and non-smokers


   Men who were aged 45 in 1995 could expect to live another 32.9 years,
while women of that age could expect to live for another 37.7 years.
However, there are major differences in life expectancy between smokers
and non-smokers.

   A male smoker aged 45 in 1995 could expect to live only
another 28.1 years, or seven years less than a male non-smoker, who could
expect to live another 35.5 years. A female smoker aged 45 in 1995 could
expect to live another 30.5 years, or more than 10 years less than a
female non-smoker, who could expect to live another 40.8 years.

   Even at age 65, differences in life expectancy between smokers and
non-smokers remain important. Almost six years of life expectancy separate
men who smoke from those who do not, and the gap is 8.5 years among women.
Tobacco use, therefore, has a major impact on life expectancy, eliminating
close to one-quarter of the remaining years that a woman aged 45 could
expect to live.

   Several factors could explain these differences in mortality based on
smoking. Smokers suffer more often than others from several diseases at
the same time. Non-smokers often adopt certain healthy lifestyle
behaviours, such as regular physical activity, moderate alcohol
consumption and better eating habits.


Disability-free life expectancy


   This study also calculated disability-free life expectancy at various
ages. Analysis shows that the negative impact of tobacco use is not
limited to mortality. Tobacco use also has a negative impact on an
individual's quality of life.

   For example, a male smoker who was aged 45 in 1995 could expect to live
another 18 years without some form of related disability. However, a male
non-smoker could expect to live another 25 years, or seven years longer,
without disability. Among women, non-smokers could live eight more years
without disability than smokers.

   In short, 95% of the additional years that a male non-smoker can expect
to live over a smoker will be spent without disability. Not only will a
smoker, on average, die younger than a non-smoker, as other studies have
already shown, but the smoker will also be more likely to be limited or
dependent in his or her activities of daily living at a younger age than a
non-smoker.

   Non-smokers can expect not only to live longer than smokers, and to
live longer without disability, but also to spend a smaller percentage of
their life with a disability. The lower incidence of disability among the
non-smoking population, combined with their increased chance of regaining
their independence, means that they will spend a larger proportion of
their total life expectancy without disability. This finding is especially
remarkable given that the risk of acquiring a disability increases with
age and non-smokers enjoy a longer life than smokers.