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The following tables summarize the impact of smoking as acause
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). CPS II
used survey results from about 1,200,000 volunteers to find out more
about 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 reports.
The tables describe only
the effects of tobacco use on deaths from cancer. They do not include
deaths from other tobacco-related causes such as heart and lung
diseases, though there are many deaths caused by those illnesses. The
data are taken from the years 2000 to 2004, the most recent years that
this detailed information was published.
Defining the terms
For this summary, current
smoker means 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
means someone who has smoked more than 100 cigarettes over his or her
lifetime but 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, say 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. 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 getting cancers of the
lungs and larynx (voice box), and of dying from these cancers. It has a
smaller effect on cancer of the cervix.
The annual
deaths column estimates the number of deaths each year
from each cancer type in the United States.
Smoking
attributable mortality (SAM) is the number of deaths
caused by smoking each year from each cancer type in the United States.
Population
attributable risk (PAR) describes the percentage of
deaths from each type of cancer that are due to smoking. For example,
about 90,000 men die of lung cancer each year in the U.S.
About 78,700 lung cancer deaths among men are caused by smoking. This
means that the smoking causes about 87% of lung cancer deaths among men
(100 times 78,700 divided by 90,000).
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.
You can see that the years of potential life lost 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 |
5,100 |
3,700 |
73 |
65,300 |
| Esophagus |
6.8 |
4.5 |
9,700 |
7,000 |
72 |
108,800 |
| Stomach |
2.0 |
1.5 |
7,100 |
1,900 |
27 |
27,600 |
| Pancreas |
2.3 |
1.2 |
14,800 |
3,100 |
21 |
50,200 |
| Layrnx (voice box) |
14.6 |
6.3 |
3,000 |
2,400 |
82 |
38,000 |
| Lung |
23.3 |
8.7 |
90,000 |
78,700 |
87 |
1,118,400 |
| Urinary Bladder |
3.3 |
2.1 |
8,500 |
3,900 |
46 |
44,200 |
| Kidney, other urinary |
2.7 |
1.7 |
7,500 |
2,800 |
38 |
43,900 |
| Acute myeloid leukemia |
1.9 |
1.3 |
3,900 |
900 |
22 |
12,500 |
| TOTAL |
- |
- |
149,600 |
104,500 |
- |
1,508,900 |
*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 |
1,100 |
46 |
19,000 |
| Esophagus |
7.8 |
2.8 |
2,900 |
1,600 |
56 |
25,400 |
| Stomach |
1.4 |
1.3 |
5,000 |
600 |
12 |
9,000 |
| Pancreas |
2.3 |
1.6 |
15,500 |
3,500 |
23 |
53,300 |
| Layrnx (voice box) |
13.0 |
5.2 |
800 |
600 |
72 |
9,900 |
| Lung |
12.7 |
4.5 |
66,900 |
46,800 |
70 |
770,700 |
| Cervix uteri |
1.6 |
1.1 |
3,800 |
400 |
12 |
11,900 |
| Urinary Bladder |
2.2 |
1.9 |
4,000 |
1,100 |
27 |
13,200 |
| Kidney, other urinary |
1.3 |
1.1 |
4,500 |
200 |
5 |
3,700 |
| Acute myeloid leukemia |
1.1 |
1.4 |
3,200 |
300 |
11 |
5,500 |
| TOTAL |
- |
- |
109,000 |
56,400 |
- |
921,700 |
*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).
Smoking-attributable mortality, years of potential life lost, and
productivity losses, United States, 2000--2004. Morb Mort Wkly Rep.
2008;57(45):1226-1228. Accessed at:
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm on September 16, 2009.
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. Accessed at:
www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/smokingconsequences/ on September 16,
2009.
Last Medical Review: 09/18/2009
Last Revised: 09/18/2009
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