WOMEN who have smoked throughout their adult lives are three times more likely to die than women of the same age who have never smoked, according to a prospective study published online in The Lancet (27 October 2012). This equates to about an 11-year loss of lifespan, the researchers say. The Million Women Study recruited 1.2 million UK women with an average age of 55 years and followed them for 12 years. At baseline, 20 per cent were smokers, 28 per cent were ex-smokers and 52 per cent had never smoked.
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