Obesity Increase More than Offsets Smoking Decrease — Reducing Life Expectancy Trend

A NBER study finds:

An average 1.4% decrease in smoking rates per year in the 15 years prior to 2005…but Body Mass Index showed an average 0.5% increase per year.

Based on [the smoking trend] alone, life expectancy for the typical 18-year-old would increase 0.31 years, with an extra 0.41 years of quality-adjusted life expectancy…[But weight] change alone would reduce life expectancy by 1.02 years and quality-adjusted life expectancy by 1.32 years.

The net effect of the two risk factors together would be a 0.71-year reduction in life expectancy and 0.91-year drop in quality-adjusted life expectancy relative to the trend.

Comments (3)

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  1. Vicki says:

    Interesting. Out of one vice and into the next.

  2. Neil H. says:

    Maybe our vices set a natural limit on life expectancy.

  3. I have not had a cigarette in 6 years. The ugliest thing about quitting could possibly be first 1 to 2 weeks. Fortunetly this stuff didn’t last long and stuff got easier daily on account of the electronic cigarette. You should not quit. Please keep pushing and you will be able to realize success once and for all.