Smokers '7 times more likely to get lung cancer than non- smokers'

New Delhi, Dec 16 (ANI): Smokers are seven times more likely than non-smokers to get lung cancer, a recent study by National University of Singapore (NUS) has shown.

After tracking 45,900 Chinese from 1993 to 2007, the study also found that six years is all it takes to dramatically cut a smoker's risk of getting the disease, The Straits Times reported.

Six years after quitting, an ex-smoker's chance of getting cancer is 28 percent less than someone who is still smoking, reports English.news.cn.

Those who continue to stay off cigarettes have their risk of getting lung cancer halved. In other words, for every two smokers who get cancer, only one non-smoker would.

The Singapore Chinese study started with more than 63,000 people.

At the time of recruitment, they were between 45 and 65 of age.

About 75 percent of those studied for the lung cancer project or 33,292 people had never smoked. These non-smokers accounted for only 25.5 percent of the 463 people in the group of 45,900 who got lung cancer by 2007. (ANI)