Life Insurance Settlement Association's 2013 Events Announced at Significantly Lower Rates

The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) announces dates for three life settlement events in 2013. "If you are active in the market or have an interest in the space, you will not want to miss these conferences," says Darwin Bayston, President of LISA. 2013's lineup includes:

3rd Annual Investor Conference - March 11, 2013 at the Harvard Club in New York City
19th Annual Spring Conference - May 29-31, 2013 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas
19th Annual Fall & Compliance Conference - October 9-11, 2013 at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando
"For the past 18 years, LISA has been the undisputable leader in conferences for the life settlement industry. Every innovation and new development related to life settlements has been introduced, discussed and debated at LISA's Spring, Fall and Investor Conferences by leading experts from within and outside the industry," says Bayston. "2013 will be no exception."

For 2013, LISA is offering a Super Early Bird Special: Purchase a Bundled Registration Package of all three conferences before February 15, 2013 at a special price of $1,495 for members and $2,195 for non-members. This package represents $299 per conference day ($690 savings from 2012 early bird rate) for members and $439 per conference day ($1,305 savings from 2012 early bird rate) for non-members. Payment for the Bundled Registration Package must be received before February 15, 2013. There will be no refunds given.

Fitch Places Life Technologies' Ratings on Evolving Watch

Fitch Ratings has placed Life Technologies Corp's (Life Tech) ratings, including the company's 'BBB' Issuer Default Rating, on Rating Watch Evolving. The ratings apply to approximately $2.4 billion of debt outstanding at Sept. 30, 2012.

The ratings reflect the following key credit considerations:
There is an overhang on the credit profile related to the heightened potential of a transformational credit event, which Fitch thinks could include a going-private transaction, an acquisition of the company by a strategic interest, or restructuring of the business. Earlier this month, a media outlet reported that Life Tech had approached private equity firms to discuss an acquisition of the company. The Board of Directors subsequently issued a statement that it has hired Moelis & Co. and Deutsche Bank to assist in its annual strategic review. The statement indicated that no particular course of action has been determined at this time.

Life Tech generates strong and stable cash flow from its portfolio of mostly consumable products, which could make it an attractive acquisition target for private equity. That said, Fitch thinks that there is a lack of an obvious business strategy behind a LBO transaction, such as cost cutting opportunities. Furthermore, resultant high leverage could limit the company's financial flexibility to invest in growth opportunities in the evolving life sciences industry.

An acquisition by a strategic interest could be more likely given opportunities for cost synergies, coupled with the attractive growth potential of the company's next-generation DNA sequencing assets. The company has recently been investing in building its portfolio of next-gen assets, but it remains a small part of the overall business. The realization of strong uptake of the next-generation assets in clinical end markets will require financial flexibility to make incremental investments.

The effect of any transaction on the ratings is highly situational and would depend upon the manner in which it is financed and the effect on the company's credit metrics. Fitch believes that the debt financing necessary to execute a LBO would result in debt well in excess of 3.5x EBITDA, which is the level Fitch views as consistent with maintenance of investment grade ratings for Life Tech.

All series of Life Tech's senior unsecured notes include an offer to purchase at 101% upon a change of control event and a subsequent downgrade to non-investment grade, providing some protection for bondholders. The note indentures do not have restrictions on additional debt or subsidiary guarantees. As a result, Fitch thinks its likely holders would put the notes for repurchase in the event of an LBO.

If the notes are not put for repurchase, the indentures limit liens with a permitted carve out of up to $350 million or 15% of CNTA. Fitch estimates the size of this carve out at $350 million as of Sept. 30, 2012. Fitch expects the notes would likely become subordinate to any potential debt issued to fund an LBO to the extent of the permitted liens basket.

More Aggressive Capital Deployment Post Decline in Leverage
Life Tech's debt leverage has consistently declined over the past two years, mostly due to the application of nearly $650 million of cash to debt reduction, although EBITDA expansion of 3.7% also contributed to the decline. At 2.0x at Sept. 30, 2012, debt leverage is now at the low end of the company stated target leverage range of 2.0x-2.5x.

Fitch does not believe the company has financial incentive to manage its balance sheet with debt below 2.0x, and so expects the company could increase debt in the near term to fund acquisitions and share repurchases. The company has stated that it intends to return about 50% of FCF to shareholders through share repurchases over a multi-year period, and to invest the remaining 50% in the future growth of the business. Life Tech does not currently fund a dividend.

Fitch forecasts sustained annual FCF generation of about $700 million for Life Tech, implying that the company could fund $350 million of acquisitions from cash on hand annually while meeting its 50% return to shareholders' target. In 2011 and 2012, Life Tech spent significantly less than this amount on acquisitions, making a series of small tuck-ins focused on acquiring distribution capabilities in emerging markets and adding to its product portfolio in its faster-growth end markets.

The biggest risk to Life Tech's operating outlook is ongoing pressure on government and academic research funding. Sales to research end markets comprised about 35% of the company's revenue in the LTM period ended Sept. 30, 2012. Favorably, 85% of sales in the period were of consumable products, which are somewhat less susceptible to volume and price headwinds than sales of larger capital equipment. However, consumable sales are not immune to these pressures, as reflected in tepid organic topline growth for Life Tech of 1-2% in each of the last three quarters.

Fitch thinks that demand for life science tools and products in the developed markets of the U.S. and Eurozone will rebound slightly in 2013. 2012 was affected by the roll-off of U.S. government stimulus funding which benefited life science researchers in 2010-2011. Furthermore, the agreement reached in U.S. Congress to avoid some elements of the fiscal cliff delayed 8% sequestration of NIH research funding until at least March 2013.

Helping to offset weak growth prospects in the research end-markets, Life Tech has recently made progress in diversifying its product portfolio to expand in the hospital/clinical and commercial end-markets. The company has also been investing in the expansion of distribution and manufacturing capabilities in faster-growing emerging markets.

Fitch thinks that the company has its best growth potential in the clinical end-market, based on its growing portfolio of next-generation DNA sequencing assets. In late 2010, Life Tech's acquisition of Ion Torrent provided a base of assets that it has subsequently developed. The uptake of gen-next sequencing in clinical markets is, however, in its nascent stages. There remains risk related to obtaining the regulatory and government approvals necessary to support wider application of the technology in clinical settings.

Life Tech's liquidity profile is solid relative to the 'BBB' IDR and is highlighted by the company's strong FCF generation. Liquidity is provided by availability on the company's $750 million credit facility revolver due February 2017 ($599.6 million available at Sept. 30, 2012) and cash on hand ($274 million at Sept. 30, 2012). FCF for the LTM period ended Sept. 30, 2012 was a solid $764 million, representing a 20.1% FCF margin. The company's FCF margin has expanded by about 260 bps since 2008, as a result of improved profitability, better management of working capital and lower capital expenditures. Fitch expects Life Tech to generate FCF of about $700 million in 2013.

The company's debt maturity schedule is not currently a credit concern. Debt outstanding includes:

Fitch thinks Life Tech will refinance the 2013 notes maturity; the company does have capacity on its credit revolver to address the maturity. The credit facility terms include a financial maintenance covenant requiring total debt-to-EBITDA of below 3.25x. The company had ample operating cushion under the bank facility leverage covenant at Sept. 30, 2012.

In the event of an equity-friendly transaction, such as an LBO, the IDR will be based on the post transaction capital structure. A downgrade of the ratings out of investment grade would be caused by total-debt-to EBITDA above 3.5x.

There has and continues to be a good deal of consolidation activity in the segments in which Life Tech operates. After completing a series of small tuck-ins in 2011-2012, Fitch believes the company could ramp up its acquisition activity in 2013. Maintenance of the 'BBB' IDR for Life Tech will require debt-to-EBITDA maintained between 2.0x and 2.5x in the near to medium term, although periodic increases to fund acquisitions could be tolerated within the current rating category.

Allianz Life Launches New FIA: Allianz 222 Annuity

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz Life), a leading provider of fixed index annuities (FIAs), today announced the launch of the Allianz 222SM Annuity, a new FIA available exclusively to field marketing organizations, broker/dealers, and agents associated with the Allianz PreferredSM platform. Available today in 44 states, the newest FIA to the Allianz Life lineup offers integral benefits to help power retirement income. These features and benefits are included in the FIA contract automatically with no additional fees.

“We understand that Americans are desperate for solutions that can help them prepare for a more secure retirement,” said Allianz Life Chief Distribution Officer Tom Burns. “As the industry leader in fixed index annuity sales, Allianz Life continues to provide product innovation based on customers’ need for both guarantees and the opportunity to increase income in retirement.”

Allianz 222 Annuity is the third exclusive product offered through the Allianz PreferredSM platform. This new FIA provides traditional annuity benefits such as accumulation potential through indexed or fixed interest, principal protection and tax deferral, and has an accumulation value that can be taken as a lump sum after the 10-year surrender charge period, or for annuitization after five years, less any bonuses. In addition, it can help meet retirement income needs by offering a Protected Income Value (PIV) specifically designed for lifetime income withdrawals that have the opportunity to increase. The PIV includes bonuses on premium in the first three contract years and potential interest bonuses. Lifetime income withdrawals can be taken from the PIV after holding the contract at least 10 years and if the income is elected between the ages of 60 and 100.

The 'Life And Times' Takes Audiences On A Lengthy Journey

Life and Times is a 10-hour play about the life of one ordinary woman. It opens this week in New York city, and weekends on All Things Considered host Robert Smith attended a performance, complete with meals. He talks to the play's directors and to the woman on whose life it's based.

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ROBERT SMITH, HOST:

Hey, thanks for sticking with us. It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Smith.

Opening this week in New York City, you can see a musical that demands a little something extra from its audience: endurance. The show is called "Life and Times," and it is more than 10 hours from start to finish. It's a production of Soho Rep at the Public Theater. And before the musical starts, the audience has that focus that you only see in marathon runners, preparing for the long haul.


SMITH: Yeah, yeah, you'll get breaks. So what epic tale could take more than 10 hours to tell? Henry V? The Bible? Not quite. "Life and Times" is the story of one average woman's life. The creators of the musical called her on the phone a few years ago out of the blue and they said: Tell me your life story - all of it - from the very beginning. And they recorded every stutter, every false start.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) What's the - oh, yes. Oh, and I do remember, um...

SMITH: And once the words finally start flowing, we are inside the memories of Kristin Worrall, child of suburban Providence, Rhode Island.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) And they didn't expect me. They planned both my brother and sister before me. And so my mother says that she was very happy that I was a girl. And she was like: You were so beautiful. And I didn't cry a lot, I don't think. I was very peaceful.

SMITH: We hear about first grade teachers, art projects, a very dramatic dance class. But even the cast admits at one point...

SMITH: Surprisingly, most of the time, no apology is needed. The stories are hilarious, and the language is addictive. It's like listening in on someone's secret thoughts. Pavol Liska is the co-creator of the work. His company is called the Nature Theater of Oklahoma. And Pavol says he never intended this to be quite the epic it turned out to be.

PAVOL LISKA: Originally, I was going to talk to several people and ask them to tell me their life story and compile one project out of multiple stories.

SMITH: Pavol wasn't interested in any particular story but the way we tell stories - the rhythm of, you know, how we, like, speak today. Kristin Worrall just happened to be first on Pavol's list. She says he didn't tell her at first what the project was really about.

WORRALL: I assumed I was going to, you know, just be edited with a bunch of other people, and it was going to be a montage, and I'd be anonymous. So, yes, I was completely speaking off the cuff and, you know, telling him about 17 crushes I had in elementary school. I mean, who cares about that stuff?

SMITH: Turns out Pavol did. At the end of a two-hour phone call, they had only made up to year eight of her life. So he called her back, over and over, recording each time. Pavol and his co-creator, Kelly Copper, say what they loved about Kristin's life was the exact opposite of what Hollywood looks for. It was fairly unremarkable, no major trauma, no life-altering romance, no explosions. It's life as most of us remember.

LISKA: What we were interested in is to take something that's not art at all, that's not even close to art, and beat our heads against the wall to figure out how the hell do we make this into art.

KELLY COPPER: And in a way, music is the most formally challenging thing you could do to it. It's the least realistic.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) And then everyone, like, sort of acknowledged that I was, like, the smartest kid in the class. And I really wanted to maintain that status and (unintelligible).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) And, uh, I don't really remember much from fourth grade.

SMITH: The music gets more complex. A disco beat hits as Kristin enters adolescence. We get first kisses, sneaking cigarettes, heartbreak at the school dance. All these trivial stories start to add up, though. They start to become a moving portrait of how serious everything seemed when we were teenagers.

The musical started at 2 p.m. There are a couple breaks - cast serves dinner, dessert. It is almost midnight when Kristin gets through high school. And there it ends, with the ominous words: to be continued. I asked Pavol Liska: As enjoyable as this all is, did it really have to be this much of a marathon? He said he thinks of it like going to the gym.

LISKA: You're not going to go to a gym and get a good workout if somehow you're not sweating and have - be in a little bit of pain afterwards. This is the same thing to me. It's a total body workout, even for your, you know...

SMITH: Pavol Liska is the director, along with Kelly Copper, of "Life and Times." If you are weak of fortitude, I suggest watching it in shorter sections - they do offer that option. The marathon sessions go on Saturdays. In fact, they're all trapped there right now, as we speak, probably somewhere around eighth grade.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) I dreamed that song, I walked, I was about to walk up to Matt Wolf(ph). And I was, like, just about to, like, tap him on his shoulder. And then he went and asked Jennifer Wilts(ph) to go dance with him.

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Pacific Life Foundation Grants $282,000 To Local Community Organizations In Greater Omaha

The Pacific Life Foundation announced today that 19 nonprofit agencies and 10 K-12 schools serving the Greater Omaha, Nebraska area will receive a total of $282,000 in grants.

2013 grants will be awarded to the following organizations:
Arts and Culture
Omaha Area Youth Orchestra: A $7,500 grant to help underwrite the 2013 “Side-by-Side” Concert Program for high school musicians from the Youth Symphony and professional musicians from the Omaha Symphony.

Omaha Community Playhouse: A $7,500 grant to support the organization’s core programs including 10 annual theater productions, in addition to education and outreach programs for students and adults.

Omaha Film Festival: A $10,000 grant to support the 8th Annual Omaha Film Festival and Conference which provides networking, classes, lectures, and workshops related to all aspects of filmmaking.

Omaha Performing Arts Society: A $10,000 grant to support arts programming and services for a diverse audience, including the underserved populations in Omaha.

Omaha Theater Company: A $50,000 capital grant to support the restoration and refurbishment of the roof, domes, and exterior facades of the historic Rose Theater.

WhyArts?: A $5,000 grant to support the Arts for Special Populations Program which consists of workshops in music, visual arts, and storytelling for mentally challenged or physically disabled individuals and their families.
Civic, Community, and Environment
Nebraska Community Foundation: A $10,000 grant to support “Leadership Nebraska,” a program that fosters leadership development to help local citizens become involved in the issues and opportunities facing Nebraska.
Education
Boys & Girls Clubs of Council Bluffs: A $10,000 grant to support the Readers to Learners Program which emphasizes parental involvement and collaboration between the club and school administrators to ensure an optimal after-school learning experience for the club members.

Omaha Children’s Museum: A $10,000 grant to support the museum’s interactive educational programs that engage children in science, art, and health.

Omaha Zoo Foundation: A $10,000 grant to support the zoo’s K-12 Education Programs which are utilized both in and out of the classroom and have an emphasis on conservation.

In addition to the educational grants above, the Foundation’s 3T’s of Education program will contribute the following grants to K-12 schools where there are concentrations of children or grandchildren of Pacific Life employees. A 3T’s of Education grant must be designated in one of the following areas: Teacher Training, Textbooks, or Technology.

Assistance League of Omaha: A $5,000 grant to support Operation School Bell which annually provides new clothing to 3,400 school-aged children in need.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands: A $10,000 grant to support the Community-Based Mentoring Program in Douglas County. The program matches adult mentors with vulnerable children to establish a one-to-one relationship that changes the lives of the children for the better.

Child Saving Institute, Inc.: A $7,500 grant for the Bridging the Gap Program which assists low-income families that qualify for government childcare subsidies with gap funding to cover the “out of pocket” monthly program expenses.

Habitat for Humanity of Omaha: A $10,000 grant to support the building of new homes for low-income families in struggling neighborhoods.

HELP Adult Services: A $7,500 grant to support the Health & Medical Equipment Loan Program which provides low-income residents access to free medical equipment prescribed by their physicians or medical facilities.
NorthStar Foundation: A $25,000 capital grant to support the construction of a facility and athletic field in North Omaha. The new facility will provide before and after school programs for local males 10-18 years old.

OneWorld Community Health Centers, Inc.: A $50,000 capital grant to support the construction of a primary healthcare center, day care center, and an expanded urgent care clinic for low-income residents in downtown Omaha, as well as build 32 affordable apartments for low-income seniors.

Youth Care and Beyond, Inc.: A $10,000 grant for housing and support services for developmentally disabled youth and adults.

Youth Emergency Services, Inc.: A $7,500 grant to support outreach, emergency shelter, and transitional housing for homeless youth.

The Pacific Life Foundation also announced a pledge to contribute a total of $560,000 toward marine mammal education, conservation, and research efforts throughout 2013. In addition, the Pacific Life Foundation continues to provide a robust matching gift program for Pacific Life employees, matching donations up to $5,000 per employee to their local United Way, up to $2,000 per employee to institutions of higher education, and up to $500 per employee to nonprofit organizations.

Annual funding of grants allows the Pacific Life Foundation to support a broad spectrum of community needs by partnering with nonprofit agencies that serve a large geographic area. Contributions are made primarily in areas with large concentrations of Pacific Life employees. Currently, Pacific Life has 285 employees working in its regional business center in Omaha, Nebraska. The Pacific Life Good Guys, an employee volunteer group, worked at 10 events with Greater Omaha area nonprofits during 2012.

The Pacific Life Foundation was established in 1984. Together with Pacific Life, the Foundation has contributed donations totaling over $72.2 million to thousands of nonprofit organizations across the country. The Foundation plans to contribute a total of $5.6 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout 2013.

Quitting smoking prolongs life at any age

It's never too late to quit smoking, and researchers have new data to prove it. Even at the age of 64, kicking the habit can add four years to a person's life, while quitting by age 34 can increase life expectancy by a decade, according to a study published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

After analyzing health data from more than 200,000 Americans, researchers calculated that current smokers were three times more likely to die during the course of the study compared with people who had never smoked. For the most part, their deaths were caused by smoking-related ailments, including heart and lung disease. Overall, their odds of surviving to age 80 were half as good as for never-smokers.

But the study, one of two large-scale surveys in the journal providing updated information on smoking and mortality, saw significant benefits for those who quit. Giving up smoking between the ages of 35 and 44 was associated with a gain of nine years of life, and those who quit between 45 and 54 lived an extra six years.

"The good news is, because the risks are so big, the benefits of quitting are quite substantial," said study leader Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Global Health Research, based in Toronto.

While the U.S. smoking rate has declined to 19.3% among adults, there are still an estimated 45.3 million smokers in this country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette use is responsible for about 443,000 U.S. deaths each year, the CDC says.

Using the National Health Interview Survey, the researchers followed 113,752 women and 88,496 men in the U.S. between 1997 and 2004, categorizing them as smokers (at least 100 cigarettes within their lifetime), former smokers (no smoking within the last five years) and never-smokers. Former smokers were held to the five-year rule in order to weed out those who were already in declining health because of potentially fatal smoking-related diseases.

The researchers checked death records in 2006 and found that 8,236 of the women and 7,479 of the men had died. By comparing mortality rates among the groups, Jha's team calculated that women between the ages of 25 and 79 who were current smokers were three times more likely to die than women who never smoked. Among men in that age group, those who still smoked were 2.8 times more likely to die than never-smokers. The results were adjusted for age, education, body mass index and alcohol consumption, since smokers tended to be thinner, have less education and be more likely to drink.

The vast difference in mortality rates is partly due to the increasing health standards of the nonsmoking population, Jha said.

The second study examined mortality rates over half a century in 2.2 million people 55 and older — possibly the largest such survey undertaken, said lead author Michael Thun, recently retired from his work as a cancer epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society.

Thun's survey measured trends in death rates across three time periods: 1959 to 1965, 1982 to 1988 and 2000 to 2010.

The analysis revealed a worrying trend that also cropped up in Jha's study: Women's death rates from smoking, which had long lagged behind men's, had pulled even.

Consider lung cancer. In the early 1960s, women smokers were 2.73 times more likely to die from lung cancer than their nonsmoking counterparts; by 2010, they were 25.66 times more likely to die of the disease, Thun found. (Male smokers' relative risk of dying of lung cancer rose from 12.22 to 24.97 over the same period.)

"It's staggering," Thun said.

It's an unsurprising glass ceiling to break, doctors said. Women began smoking routinely after World War II, about two decades after men took up the habit, so it was only a matter of time until their mortality rates caught up.

The two papers did not draw distinctions between people who smoked a pack a day and those who might smoke just a few cigarettes a day, said Dr. Steven Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at UC San Francisco. A next step in terms of study would be "to find out how much less health problems there are for smokers who smoke fewer cigarettes," he said.

Taken together, the studies point to a need for far more effective efforts to reach potential and current smokers, Schroeder added.

The message needs to get out to young and old smokers alike, he said: "There's a ray of hope. It's never too late to quit."

Putting a Number on Smoking’s Toll

It is often said that smoking takes years off your life, and now a new study shows just how many: Longtime smokers can expect to lose about 10 years of life expectancy.

But amid those grim findings was some good news for former smokers. Those who quit before they turn 35 can gain most if not all of that decade back, and even those who wait until middle age to kick the habit can add about five years back to their life expectancies.

“There’s the old saw that everyone knows smoking is bad for you,” said Dr. Tim McAfee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But this paints a much more dramatic picture of the horror of smoking. These are real people that are getting 10 years of life expectancy hacked off — and that’s just on average.”

The findings were part of research, published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, that looked at government data on more than 200,000 Americans who were followed starting in 1997. Similar studies that were done in the 1980s and the decades prior had allowed scientists to predict the impact of smoking on mortality. But since then many population trends have changed, and it was unclear whether smokers today fared differently from smokers decades ago.

Since the 1960s, the prevalence of smoking over all has declined, falling from about 40 percent to 20 percent. Today more than half of people that ever smoked have quit, allowing researchers to compare the effects of stopping at various ages.

Modern cigarettes contain less tar and medical advances have cut the rates of death from vascular disease drastically. But have smokers benefited from these advances?

Women in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s had lower rates of mortality from smoking than men. But it was largely unknown whether this was a biological difference or merely a matter of different habits: earlier generations of women smoked fewer cigarettes and tended to take up smoking at a later age than men.

Now that smoking habits among women today are similar to those of men, would mortality rates be the same as well?

“There was a big gap in our knowledge,” said Dr. McAfee, an author of the study and the director of the C.D.C.’s Office on Smoking and Public Health.

The new research showed that in fact women are no more protected from the consequences of smoking than men. The female smokers in the study represented the first generation of American women that generally began smoking early in life and continued the habit for decades, and the impact on life span was clear. The risk of death from smoking for these women was 50 percent higher than the risk reported for women in similar studies carried out in the 1980s.

“This sort of puts the nail in the coffin around the idea that women might somehow be different or that they suffer fewer effects of smoking,” Dr. McAfee said.

It also showed that differences between smokers and the population in general are becoming more and more stark. Over the last 20 years, advances in medicine and public health have improved life expectancy for the general public, but smokers have not benefited in the same way.

“If anything, this is accentuating the difference between being a smoker and a nonsmoker,” Dr. McAfee said.

The researchers had information about the participants’ smoking histories and other details about their health and backgrounds, including diet, alcohol consumption, education levels and weight and body fat. Using records from the National Death Index, they calculated their mortality rates over time.

People who had smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes were not classified as smokers. Those who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes but had not had one within five years of the time the data was collected were classified as former smokers.

Not surprisingly, the study showed that the earlier a person quit smoking, the greater the impact. People who quit between 25 and 34 years of age gained about 10 years of life compared to those who continued to smoke. But there were benefits at many ages. People who quit between 35 and 44 gained about nine years, and those who stopped between 45 and 59 gained about four to six years of life expectancy.

From a public health perspective, those numbers are striking, particularly when juxtaposed with preventive measures like blood pressure screenings, colorectal screenings and mammography, the effects of which on life expectancy are more often viewed in terms of days or months, Dr. McAfee said.

“These things are very important, but the size of the benefit pales in comparison to what you can get from stopping smoking,” he said. “The notion that you could add 10 years to your life by something as straightforward as quitting smoking is just mind boggling.”