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Not smoking twice as good for health as earning a high salary

The study's lead author said: "Wealth may be associated with longevity, but just don't smoke."

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By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Not smoking is twice as good for health as earning a high salary, according to new research.

It improves the chances of living to a ripe old age by 37 percent, say scientists.

On the other hand, having $300,000 increases the likelihood of living from 65 to 85 by 19 percent.

A study of 6,300 people found wealth is a better predictor of mortality than education, occupation, income or childhood socioeconomic status.

via GIPHY

Lead author Dr. Dana Glei, of Georgetown University, California, said: "Health care practitioners cannot modify their patient’s wealth, but they should continue to discourage smoking.

"Wealth may be associated with longevity, but just don't smoke."

The US participants were aged 25 to 74 and tracked for around 18 years - with more than a third under 40.

Dr. Glei said: "In this life stage, individuals are developing their career and starting to
accumulate wealth."

Although mortality rates remain low at these young ages, increased mortality
among working-age US individuals was the main reason for the three-year consecutive decline in life expectancy during 2015 to 2017.

The first $50,000 in assets reduced mortality rates by 22% whereas the next $50,000 produced a nonsignificant 17% decrease and another $50,000 a mere 5% reduction.

A middle-aged woman breaking a cigarette in half
(Juice Flair/Shutterstock)

Dr. Glei said: "In fact, we found no significant differences across groups with $50,000 to $299,999 in wealth.

"However, those with $300,000 to $499,999 had 41% lower mortality rates than those with only $200,000 to $299,999."

Above $500,000, additional wealth yielded no mortality dividend. However, the disparity between never and current smokers was the largest.

Dr. Glei said: "Adjusted for age, sex, and race, the mortality disparity by wealth was larger than the disparities by education, occupation, income, or childhood socioeconomic status, especially at the oldest ages.

"The estimated probability of surviving from age 65 to 85 years was 19 percent higher for persons with at least $300,000 in wealth than for those with no assets.

"But there was a much larger 37 percentage point differential between never smokers and current smokers."

The study shows mortality disparities by wealth are larger than those associated with other indicators of socioeconomic - but smoking has a far greater influence.

Dr. Dei said: "The positive association between socioeconomic status and longevity is well established.

"Although much of the literature relies on education or income as a proxy measure, some studies have focused on wealth.

"Because both income and wealth inequality have increased substantially since the late 1980s, examining wealth as a factor associated with differential longevity has also become more salient."

She added: "In this cohort study, the fully adjusted disparity in mortality associated with wealth beyond age 65 years remained sizeable but was much smaller than the
smoking differential."

Previous research has also found smoking can knock a decade off a person's life. Scientists have calculated each cigarette takes 11 minutes away, on average.

The findings are in JAMA Network Open.

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