Tobacco use causes health problems that begin with simple throat irritation and high cholesterol, but may end in deadly disease. Beginning with the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 announcement that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, the list of diseases from smoking has grown to include the four leading causes of death in America. Additional nonfatal diseases attributed to smoking include pneumonia, cataracts and gum disease, according to the Surgeon General's 2004 report on smoking.
Coronary Heart Disease
Smoking cigarettes causes coronary heart disease in tobacco users at up to four times the rate for nonsmokers. People who are exposed to secondhand smoke also have some increased risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that coronary heart disease is the leading cause of all deaths in America. Cardiac emergencies caused by smoking accounted for 126,000 deaths in 2004.
Heart health declines as smokers' cholesterol and blood pressure rise. The American Heart Association relates that smoking cigarettes changes the quality of blood platelets, creating a greater tendency for blood to clot. Blood clots in arteries that have been narrowed by cholesterol plaque buildup can cause heart attacks.
Cancers
Cancers of all types are a major cause of death in the United States, with lung cancer claiming many of those lives. The CDC reports that in 2004, 128,900 lung cancer deaths in the United States were linked to smoking.
Additional cancers associated with smoking include leukemia and cancers of the mouth, larynx, throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix and uterus. The CDC attributed 35,300 of these 2004 cancer deaths to smoking cigarettes.
Stroke
Stroke, a third major cause of U.S. fatalities, occurs in smokers at a higher rate than nonsmokers, for the same reasons that smokers have higher rates of heart attacks. Clotting that occurs in narrowed blood vessels causes strokes. Smokers are twice as likely as nonsmokers to suffer strokes. Strokes can cause muscular and neurological health problems or death. According to the CDC, 15,900 smokers lost their lives to stroke in 2004.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic bronchitis and emphysema, two forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, represent another leading cause of death in the U.S. The American Lung Association notes that smoking is the main risk factor for COPD, which killed 92,900 tobacco users in 2004.
References
- U.S. Surgeon General: List of Diseases Caused by Smoking
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Deaths Attributable to Cigarette Smoking
- American Heart Association: Cigarette Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Heart Disease and Stroke
- American Lung Association: COPD
