This professor has smoked approximately 21,098 packs of cigarettes up to age seventy. That is approximately one pack per day for fifty-eight years.

Lungs can recover SOME of the previous healthy appearance and normal function, depending upon how long and how much the person has smoked. Of course, the more one smokes, the lower the chances are for recovery. Medical Professionals base the smoker’s chances for improvement on several factors, but one of the more important factors is known as “Pack Years”(P-Y).

If you multiply the number of packs of cigarettes smoked each day by the number of years the person has been smoking, the result is the “Pack Years”. For example: Mr “C” is 37 years old and smoked two pack of cigarettes for 19 years. Therefore, Mr “C” has a 38 PackYear smoking istory. This is not good at all! When the “P-Y” number is more than the age of the person, the more likely there is to be damage to the lungs.

~Richard Mondak, Staff, Physician Assistant, PA Provider Services