Statistics and information concerning smoking
- Smoking is the number one medical cost in our
society and the United States Surgeon General has identified smoking as the
nation's most preventable cause of disease and death.
- Over 440,000 people die each year from
smoking-related diseases.
- Smoking kills more people each year than AIDS,
alcohol and drug abuse, car accidents, murders, suicides, and fires combined.
- Smoking is a primary risk factor in the top
four causes of death (Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease).
- Cigarette smoke contains at least 60
individual cancer-causing chemicals and smoking is directly responsible for
almost 90 percent of all lung cancers.
- Smoking causes most of the cases of emphysema
and chronic bronchitis.
- Patients who smoke regularly before surgery
have twice the risk of wound infections as nonsmokers.
- Smoking is a risk factor for osteoporosis
(bone mineral loss), hip fractures, and spinal arthritis. A smoker's broken
bones take almost twice as long to heal as a non-smoker's.
- Smoking causes premature facial wrinkling and
graying of the skin.
- Smoking during pregnancy accounts for 20 – 30
percent of low birth-weight infants and up to 14% of pre-term births.
Approximately 10 percent of all infant deaths are attributable to smoking.
Sources: American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Office on Smoking & Health, National Cancer Institute
