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