Cigarette smoking and all-cause mortality in rural Chinese male adults: 15-year follow-up of the Anqing cohort study

BACKGROUND: According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, smoking is one of the leading four risk factors contributing to deaths in China. We aimed to evaluate the associations of smoking with all-cause mortality in a Chinese rural population. METHODS: Male participants over age 45 (n = 5367) from a large familial aggregation study in rural China, were included in the current analyses. A total of 528 former smokers and 3849 current smokers accounted for 10 and 71.7% of the cohort, respectively. Generalized Estimating Equations were used to evaluate the association between baseline smoking status and mortality, adjusting for pertinent covariates. RESULTS: There were 579 recorded deaths during the 15-year follow-up. Current smokers (odds ratio [OR],1.60; 95% CI,1.23–2.08) had higher all-cause mortality risks than nonsmokers. Relative to nonsmokers, current smokers of more than 40 pack-years ([OR],1.85; 95% CI,1.33–2.56) had a higher all-cause mortality risk. Compared to nonsmokers, current smokers who started smoking before age 20 ([OR],1.91; 95% CI,1.43–2.54) had a higher all-cause mortality risk, and former smokers in the lower pack-year group who quit after age 41 (median) ([OR],3.19; 95% CI,1.83–5.56) also had a higher risk of death after adjustment. Furthermore, former smokers who were also former drinkers had the highest significant risk of mortality than never smokers or drinkers. (P for interaction = 0.034). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that current smokers and former smokers have a higher mortality risk than nonsmokers and would benefit from cessation at a younger age. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10691-2.