Long-term smokers who kick the habit will improve their cardiovascular health, but not immediately, according to a study.

Researchers found that the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) declines substantially in the first five years after a smoker stops smoking but does not match the risk of a never-smoker until 10-15 years have elapsed since cessation.

Lead author Meredith Duncan, a PhD student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said the results showed that within five years of quitting, former heavy smokers had a 39% CVD risk reduction compared with continuing smokers.

“Second, when pooling data from the original and offspring cohorts of the Framingham Heart Study, we observed that former smokers’ cardiovascular disease risk remained elevated for 10-15 years since quitting compared to never smokers,” she said.