How does tobacco affect my health?
Your Health and Tobacco
At this point, most people know tobacco is really bad for them. Every now and then someone tells us about their superhero uncle who lived to be 112 years old and smoked, but unlikely things like getting struck by lightning also happen. In reality, tobacco use is the leading cause of disability, disease and preventable death in the United States. Every year, we learn more about how devastating tobacco can be to the human body and how damaging secondhand smoke is to those around it.
Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S.
Smoking causes lung cancer and lung diseases including COPD, emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction.1 2
Health Effects of Smoking
Smoking also causes the following cancers3
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Compared to non-smokers, smoking is estimated to increase the risk of:
Coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times 4 5
Stroke by 2 to 4 times6 7
Men developing lung cancer by 23 times8
Women developing lung cancer by 13 times9
Dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases by 12 to 13 times10
(such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema)
On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than non-smokers.11
What if I Chew or Dip?
Smokeless tobacco products, such as spitting tobacco, dip, chew, snuff and snus, are also harmful to your health and are not a safer alternative to smoking.12
Smokeless tobacco users have:
80 percent higher risk of oral cancer13
60 percent higher risk of pancreatic and esophageal cancer14
Smokeless tobacco use can cause the following cancers:
- Cancer of the esophagus
- Cancer of the pharynx (throat)
- Cancer of the larynx (voice box)
- Stomach cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
Spit tobacco also causes leukoplakia, a disease of the mouth characterized by white patches and oral lesions on the cheeks, gums, and/or tongue. Leukoplakia, which can lead to oral cancer, occurs in more than half of all users in the first three years of use. Studies have found that 60 to 78 percent of smokeless tobacco users have oral lesions 15 16
For more information on smokeless tobacco, click here»
References
1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
2Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2008;57(45):1226–8
3U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
4U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
5U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing the Health Consequences of Smoking: 25 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville (MD): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 1989
6U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
7Ockene IS, Miller NH. Cigarette Smoking, Cardiovascular Disease, and Stroke: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the American Heart Association. Circulation 1997;96(9):3243–7
8U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
9U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
10U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
11Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 1995–1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2002;51(14):300–3
12Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts and Figures 2010
13Boffetta, P, et al., “Smokeless tobacco and cancer,” The Lancet 9:667-675, 2008.
14Boffetta, P, et al., “Smokeless tobacco and cancer,” The Lancet 9:667-675, 2008.
15Hatsukami, D & Severson, H, “Oral Spit Tobacco: Addiction, Prevention and Treatment,” Nicotine & Tobacco Research 1:21-44, 1999.
16“The Smokeless Tobacco Outreach and Prevention Guide,” Applied Behavioral Science Press, 1997.
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