The following tables summarize the impact of smoking as a cause of death from cancer. For each of these cancer types, the tables provide several statistics. These estimates are based on results of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS II), which used survey results from about 1,200,000 volunteers to determine what factors can cause cancer or help prevent it. Statistics from CPS II are used in the United States Surgeon General’s report on the health consequences of smoking and in other government publications.

The tables describe only the effects of tobacco use on cancer deaths. They do not include deaths from other tobacco-related causes such as heart and lung diseases, which are substantial. The data are taken from the years 1997 to 2001.

Current smoker is defined as someone who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes over his or her lifetime and now smokes every day or some days.

Former smoker or ex-smoker is defined as someone who has smoked more than 100 cigarettes over his or her lifetime and who does not now smoke every day or some days.

The relative risk (RR) is the risk of death from cancer among current or former smokers when compared with the risk for non-smokers. For example, assume that the risk of death from a type of cancer among non-smokers, ex-smokers, and current smokers was 5, 10, and 20 deaths per 100,000 people per year, respectively. The relative risk for ex-smokers would be 10 divided by 5, equaling 2. In other words, since 5 non-smokers die from this cancer every year, the fact that 10 ex-smokers die means that ex-smokers have twice the risk of non-smokers. The RR for current smokers would be 20 divided by 5, equaling 4. Current smokers, then, would be 4 times more likely to die from this cancer than those who never smoked, so we say their relative risk is 4.

The effect of smoking on each type of cancer is different. For example, smoking greatly increases the risk of developing and dying from cancers of the lungs and larynx, and has a smaller effect on cancer of the cervix.

The annual deaths column estimates the number of deaths year from each cancer type in the United States.

Smoking attributable mortality (SAM) is the number of deaths each year from each cancer type in the United States caused by smoking.

Population attributable risk (PAR) describes the percentage of deaths from each type of cancer that are due to smoking. For example, about 89,900 men die of lung cancer each year in the United States. About 79,000 lung cancer deaths among men are caused by smoking, which means that the smoking causes about 88% of lung cancer deaths among men (100 times 79,000 divided by 89,900).

Years of potential life lost (YPLL) estimates how much a smoking-related cancer shortened the lives of people who died of these diseases each year. As a simple example, if the average life expectancy were 85 years and 1,000 people died of a smoking-related cancer at age 70, that would mean 15,000 (15 times 1,000) years of life were lost. These numbers depend both on the number of people dying from a type of cancer and the average number of years each of them loses.

Men

Cancer Type	RR for current smokers	RR for former smokers	Annual deaths*	SAM*	PAR (%)	YPLL*
Lip, oral cavity, pharynx	10.9	3.4	5,000	3,700	74	63,200
Esophagus	6.8	4.5	9,000	6,500	72	101,100
Stomach	2.0	1.5	7,400	2,100	28	29,400
Pancreas	2.3	1.2	14,000	3,100	22	48,300
Layrnx (voice box)	14.6	6.3	3,000	2,500	83	38,200
Lung	23.3	8.7	89,900	79,000	88	1,113,600
Urinary Bladder	3.3	2.1	8,000	3,800	48	42,200
Kidney, other urinary	2.7	1.7	7,200	2,800	39	43,100
Acute myeloid leukemia	1.9	1.3	3,400	800	24	11,700
TOTAL	-	-	147,000	104,200	-	1,490,800

*Rounded to the nearest hundred

Women

Cancer Type	RR for current smokers	RR for former smokers	Annual deaths*	SAM*	PAR (%)	YPLL*
Lip, oral cavity, pharynx	5.1	2.3	2,500	1,200	48	19,700
Esophagus	7.8	2.8	2,900	1,600	55	25,000
Stomach	1.4	1.3	5,200	600	12	9,200
Pancreas	2.3	1.6	14,800	3,400	23	51,600
Layrnx (voice box)	13.0	5.2	800	600	75	10,400
Lung	12.7	4.5	63,200	44,800	71	740,200
Cervix uteri	1.6	1.1	4,000	500	13	13,000
Urinary Bladder	2.2	1.9	3,800	1,100	29	13,000
Kidney, other urinary	1.3	1.1	4,500	200	4	3,900
Acute myeloid leukemia	1.1	1.4	2,900	300	10	5,000
TOTAL	-	-	104,600	54,300	-	890,800

*Rounded to the nearest hundred

The difference in the numbers for men and women is caused by several factors, including the average number of cigarettes smoked, how deeply each sex inhales, the age at which they started smoking, and, for former smokers, the age at which they quit.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Annual smoking-attributable mortality, years of potential life lost, and productivity losses - United States, 1997-2001. MMWR. 2005;54:625-628. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5425a1.htm. Accessed October 19, 2007.

Office of the US Surgeon General. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office on Smoking and Health. 2004. Available at: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/smokingconsequences/. Accessed October 19, 2007.

Revised: 10/30/2007