Cigarette smoking is the primary known preventable cause of premature death in the U.S. Each year, nearly half a million Americans die from cigarette smoking; one of every five deaths in the U.S. is smoking related (CDC, 1999). This number surpasses the combined death toll due to alcohol, car accidents, suicides, homicides, HIV disease, and illicit drug use.

Average number of years of life lost because of smoking, for male and female smokers (CDC, 2002):
Males 13.2 years
Females 14.5 years
A total of 437,902 annual deaths due to cigarette smoking are reported by the CDC (2005) as follows:
Cardiovascular disease………… 137,979
Hypertension, ischemic heart disease, other heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysm, other arterial disease
Lung cancer………………………123,836
Trachea, lung, bronchus
Respiratory diseases…………….101,454
Pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis, emphysema, chronic airway obstruction
Second-hand smoke……………....38,112
Cancers other than lung…………..34,693
Lip, oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, larynx, cervix, uterus, urinary bladder, kidney, other urinary
Other………………………………….1,828

Note that the NCI monograph Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (National Cancer Institute, 1999) estimates that 53,000 lives are lost annually due to second-hand smoke.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual smoking-attributable mortality, years of potential life lost, and productivity losses—United States, 1997–2001. MMWR 2005;54:625–628.
National Cancer Institute. Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: The Report of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 10. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, NIH Publication No. 99-4645, 1999, pp. 185–264.

Slide is used with permission, Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation. Copyright © 1999-2007 The Regents of the University of California, University of Southern California, and Western University of Health Sciences. All rights reserved.