@neilyounger Thanks for those links, it really is startling. I suppose it is positive that many of the smokers quit if that is the only thing that they end up changing. Do you know of any articles that quantify risk reduction and how one would benefit by taking action and also starting statin therapy? I found a risk calculator on the Arizona State University heartseries.org site that was helpful to reassure me that making changes does have a huge impact on your longevity. Basically, cutting risk from very high (>20%) to low risk (3-8% chance of heart attack in 10 years). I think I can live with those numbers at 55yo and its worth it to do whatever I can to keep the risk in that range.