Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Smoking has always been tied to negative health outcomes, but new research zeros in on exactly what harm it causes.
Males and females who smokes are estimated to be about twice as old as their chronological age compared to non-smokers, according to new findings published Tuesday in Scientific Reports.
"Smoking is a real problem that destroys people's health, causes premature deaths, and is often the cause of many serious diseases," Polina Mamoshina, a senior research scientist at artificial intelligence solutions company Insilico Medicine and study author, said in a news release.
About 38 million Americans currently smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And smoking is responsible for the deaths approximately 480,000 people per year, or one in five deaths in the U.S.
The research used an age-prediction model of supervised deep learning techniques that looked at various biochemical markers like glycated hemoglobin, fasting glucose, ferritin and urea. The results showed that smokers had a higher aging ratio than people who didn't smoke.
Based on the results of this smoking research, the researchers think this deep learning examination of blood tests could soon supplant traditional self-reporting methods used to evaluate what other lifestyle choices have on aging.
Insilico Medicine uses AI to research aging and drug development to "extend healthy longevity."
"We applied artificial intelligence to prove that smoking significantly increases your biological age," Mamoshina said.
