NEW YORK: Heavy cigarette smokers can reduce their risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) by 39 percent within five years if they quit, researchers said.

It takes at least five to 10 years and perhaps up to 25 years after quitting, for CVD risk to become as low as that of a person who has never smoked, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Researchers used data from the Framingham Heart Study, a longitudinal study of men and women from Massachusetts, which began enrolment in 1948.

(Agencies)