Smoking, quitting and mortality in an elderly cohort of 56,000 Hong Kong Chinese.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although the harms of smoking are well established, it is unclear how they extend into old age in the Chinese.

Aim

To examine the relationship of smoking with all-cause and major cause-specific mortality in elderly Chinese men and women, respectively, in Hong Kong.

Methods

Mortality by smoking status was examined in a prospective cohort study of 56,167 (18,749 men, 37,416 women) Chinese aged > or = 65 years enrolled from 1998 to 2000 at all the 18 elderly health centres of the Hong Kong Government Department of Health.

Results

After a mean follow-up of 4.1 years, 1848 male and 2035 female deaths occurred among 54,214 subjects (96.5% successful follow-up). At baseline, more men than women were current smokers (20.3% vs 4.0%) and former smokers (40.8%

SUBMITTER: Lam TH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2598507 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature