Not All Smokers Die Young: A Model for Hidden Heterogeneity within the Human Population

The ability of some individuals to reach extreme old age in the presence of clearly high exposure to damaging factors may signal an innate biological advantage. For this study we used data on 4,655 current and never smokers, ages 50 and above, from NHANES III to examine whether long-lived smokers represent a biologically resilient phenotype that could facilitate our understanding of heterogeneity in the aging process. Using a proportional hazards model, our results showed that while smoking significantly increased mortality in most age groups, it did not increase the mortality risk for those who were age 80 and over at baseline. Additionally when comparing the adjusted means of biomarkers between never and current smokers, we found that long-lived smokers (80+) had similar inflammation, HDL, and lung function levels to never smokers. Given that factors which allow some individuals to withstand smoking may also enable others to cope with everyday biological stressors, the investigation of long-lived smokers may eventually allow us to identify molecular and genetic mechanisms which enable longevity extension.