Cigarette Smoking

• Cigarette Smoking Overview
• Cigarette Smoking Symptoms
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Exams and Tests
• Cigarette Smoking Treatment
• Medical Treatment
• Next Steps
• Prevention
• Outlook
• For More Information
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors
• Read more on Cigarette Smoking from Healthwise

Cigarette Smoking Overview

Cigarette smoking remains a leading contributor to death and illness among Americans. Every year, roughly 440,000 Americans die from illnesses caused by tobacco use, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all deaths. Tobacco use costs the nation about $100 billion each year in direct medical expenses and in lost productivity for a total cost of about 200 billion per year as estimated by the CDC.

About 23% of all American adults (46.2 million people) smoke. This number has remained constant for several years despite government efforts through Healthy People 2000 and Healthy People 2010 to lower those percentages. Slightly more men (28.1%) smoke than women (23.5%). Hispanics (16.7%) and Asian Americans (12.4%) smoke less than whites (24.0%) or African Americans (22.3%). In younger age groups, almost 27% of those 18 to 24 years old are current smokers.

Nevertheless, significant progress has been made since 1964, when the Surgeon General issued the first report outlining the health dangers of smoking. Since that time, the prevalence of smoking has dropped from 42.4% among adults to 22.8%. Lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and emphysema would become infrequently diagnosed diseases if people would stop smoking.

Compared to a nonsmoker, a smoker faces these risks:

• fourteen times greater risk of dying from cancer of the lung, throat, or mouth;



• four times greater risk of dying from cancer of the esophagus;



• two times greater risk of dying from a heart attack;
and


• two times greater risk of dying from cancer of the bladder.

Use of other tobacco products such as pipes, cigars, and snuff is less common, comprising less than 10% of use of all tobacco products; however, the health effects of these products are similar to those of tobacco - particularly their association with cancers of the mouth, throat, and esophagus.

Increasing attention has been devoted to publicizing the dangers of second-hand (environmental) smoke, the association between tobacco marketing and initiation of smoking among youth, and the development of strategies and medications to help smokers quit. According to the CDC, about 126 million people are exposed to secondhand smoke and are put at risk for tobacco-related problems such as lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory infections. In addition, a new problem termed "third-hand smoke" has been recently investigated; cigarette smoke generated carcinogens lodge in clothing, carpets, drapes and other materials and can be absorbed through human skin, especially that of children and infants. These carcinogens can also be ingested and inhaled in dust.

Cigarette smoking has been linked strongly to the following illnesses:

• heart disease

• stroke

• hypertension (high blood pressure)

• other diseases of blood vessels (such as poor circulation in the legs) and aortic aneurysms (potentially life-threatening disruptions in the wall of the aorta)

• respiratory illness, including the following:
  
  
  • lung cancer
  
  
  
  • emphysema
  
  
  
  • bronchitis
  
  
  
  • pneumonia

• cancers, including:
  
  
  • lip or mouth
  
  
  
  • pharynx or larynx (voice box)
  
  
  
  • esophagus (food pipe)
  
  
  
  • pancreas
  
  
  
  • kidney
  
  
  
  • urinary bladder
  
  
  
  • cervix

• peptic ulcer disease



• burns