Cardiovascular health, sleeping duration, and risk of mortality in current and former smokers

•Only former smokers with ≥6 ideal cardiovascular health metrics exhibited a comparable risk of all-cause mortality with never smokers, but not in those with <6 ICVHMs.•Current smokers even having ≥6 ideal cardiovascular health metrics still exhibited a higher risk of all-cause mortality compared with never smokers.•Participants younger than 60 years showed a more significant reduction in the risk of mortality and the beneficial effect was much weaker for the current smoker than former smokers.