Smokers are more likely to die between the ages of 40 and 70 -- broadly defined as middle age -- than nonsmokers, HealthDay News reported March 24.

A study of 50,000 people over a period of 25 years found that 41 percent of people who smoked a pack of cigarettes or more per day died between ages 40-70, compared to 14 percent of nonsmokers. Among female smokers the death rate was 26 percent, compared to 9 percent of nonsmokers.

However, the study also found that risk levels dropped when smokers quit, regardless of age.

"All too many people, when they think of smoking, think of people dying at an old age," said John Banzhaf of Action on Smoking and Health. "This study shows a very dramatic increase in death rate at middle age, a significantly lower chance of surviving middle age, particularly if you are what they define as a heavy smoker."

The research appears in the March 2006 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.