Health Effects of Smoking

The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for 440,000 deaths, or nearly 1 of every 5 deaths, each year in the United States.^1,21,3 More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

Cancer

• The risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 22 times higher among men who smoke cigarettes, and about 12 times higher among women who smoke cigarettes compared with never smokers.⁴
   
• Cigarette smoking increases the risk for many types of cancer, including cancers of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, larynx (voice box), lung, uterine cervix, urinary bladder, and kidney.⁵
   
• Rates of cancers related to cigarette smoking vary widely among members of racial/ethnic groups, but are generally highest in African-American men.⁶
  

Cardiovascular Disease (Heart and Circulatory System)

• Cigarette smokers are 24 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers.⁵
   
• Cigarette smoking approximately doubles a person's risk for stroke.^4,7
   
• Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries). Smokers are more than 10 times as likely as nonsmokers to develop peripheral vascular disease.⁸
  

Respiratory Disease and Other Effects

• Cigarette smoking is associated with a ten-fold increase in the risk of dying from chronic obstructive lung disease.⁴ About 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung diseases are attributable to cigarette smoking.^4,9
   
• Cigarette smoking has many adverse reproductive and early childhood effects, including an increased risk for infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).⁹
   
• Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked. Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than never smokers.⁹
  

References