Study: Quitting smoking raises diabetes risk

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/05/cigs.gi.art.jpg caption="A study of 11,000 middle-aged people found that those who quit smoking gained an average of 8.4 pounds."]

By Sarah Klein, Health.com

(Health.com) - People who quit smoking are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes after they kick the habit, most likely due to post-quitting weight gain, a new study has found.

Experts caution, however, that the benefits of quitting smoking - including a lower risk of heart attack and lung cancer - far outweigh the risk of developing diabetes, which can be treated with diet, exercise, and medication.

The study, which was published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, followed nearly 11,000 middle-aged people without diabetes - 45 percent of whom were smokers - over a nine-year period. Compared to those who had never smoked, the people who quit smoking during the study had a 73 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes three years after quitting.

The increased risk was even more dramatic in the years immediately after quitting. "Based on our analysis, [it's] probably 80 percent or even 90 percent," says the study's lead author, Hsin-Chieh (Jessica) Yeh, an assistant professor of internal medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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