Cigarette Smoking-Related Mortality
Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of premature
death in the United States. Each year, more than 400,000 Americans die
from cigarette smoking. In fact, one in every five deaths in the United
States is smoking related. Every year, smoking kills more than 276,000
men and 142,000 women.1
About 10 million people in the United
States have died from causes attributed to smoking (including heart
disease, emphysema, and other respiratory diseases) since the first
Surgeon General's report on smoking and health in 1964--2 million of
these deaths were the result of lung cancer alone.2
Between 1960 and 1990, deaths from
lung cancer among women have increased by more than 400%--exceeding
breast cancer deaths in the mid-1980s.3 The American Cancer
Society estimated that in 1994, 64,300 women died from lung cancer and
44,300 died from breast cancer.4
Men who smoke increase their risk of
death from lung cancer by more than 22 times and from bronchitis and
emphysema by nearly 10 times. Women who smoke increase their risk of
dying from lung cancer by nearly 12 times and the risk of dying from
bronchitis and emphysema by more than 10 times. Smoking triples the risk
of dying from heart disease among middle-aged men and women.1
Every year in the United States,
premature deaths from smoking rob more than five million years from the
potential lifespan of those who have died.1
On average, smokers die nearly seven
years earlier than nonsmokers.2
Annually, exposure to secondhand
smoke (or environmental tobacco smoke) causes an estimated 3,000 deaths
from lung cancer among American adults.5 Scientific studies
also link secondhand smoke with heart disease.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-attributable
mortality and years of potential life lost — United States, 1990.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1993;42(33):645-8.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Office on Smoking and
Health, unpublished data, 1994.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mortality trends for
selected smoking-related and breast cancer — United States,
1950-1990. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1993;42(44):857,
863-6.
- American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures — 1996.
Atlanta (GA): American Cancer Society, 1996.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects
of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. Washington
(DC): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Health and
Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development.
EPA/600/6-90/006F. December 1992.
Source: Office on Smoking and Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
July 1996
