Smoking kills more than 5 million people around the globe each year as of 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and that rate may increase to more than 8 million yearly by 2030. However, smokers are not the only people at risk. For instance, roughly 11 percent of the deaths that smoking cigarettes causes each year in the United States represent nonsmokers exposed to smokers' secondhand smoke.
Adult Smoker Features
The CDC estimates that roughly 21 percent of U.S. residents aged 18 years or older smoked cigarettes as of 2008, which equals approximately 46 million adults. Slightly more than 20 percent of adults aged 18 to 64 smoked, but only about 9 percent of adults aged 65 or older did. The state with the highest percentage of adult smokers was West Virginia at 26.6 percent, and state with the least number of adult smokers was Utah at 9.2 percent. In terms of race and ethnicity, adult American Indians and Alaska Natives had the highest proportion of smokers at 32.4 percent, while adult Asians had the lowest at 9.9 percent.
Non-Adult Smoker Features
Most smokers picked up the habit when they were teenagers, according to the American Cancer Society. In fact, only about 10 percent of smokers started smoking at age 20 or older; the rest started when they were 19 or younger. As of 2007, 1/5 of students in the ninth through 12th grades and about 6 percent of middle school students in the sixth through eighth grades smoked cigarettes, according to the CDC. The number of male and female middle school smokers were roughly equivalent at 6.3 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively. However, approximately 21 percent of high school smokers were male, compared to a slightly lower rate of about 19 percent for female high school students.
Health Considerations
In the United States, smoking cigarettes accounts for approximately 20 percent of the total deaths per year, which is about 443,000, reports the CDC. Not only does the average smoker die about 14 years sooner than a nonsmoker, but smoking contributes to numerous potentially fatal diseases, as well. For example, the habit is responsible for the deaths of roughly 87 percent of people with lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. It also causes other types of cancer and such medical conditions as heart disease and lung disease, including the chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Secondhand Smoke
Also called environmental tobacco smoke, secondhand smoke refers to both the smoke that smokers breathe out and the smoke from lit tobacco products. Such smoke contains about 250 poisonous chemicals, states the CDC, and more than 50 of those chemicals can contribute to cancer. Secondhand smoke kills about 49,000 residents of the United States each year, and nonsmokers who inhale secondhand smoke have up to a 30 percent higher risk of developing lung cancer. As a result, secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 U.S. nonsmokers to die of lung cancer annually as of 2008.
Quitting Effects
Quitting smoking is one of the best health decisions a smoker can make, and the sooner, the better, according to the American Cancer Society. Smokers who give up the habit completely can make their chances of developing coronary heart disease the same as a nonsmoker's in just 15 years, for example. In addition, it can take as few as 5 years to have the same risk of stroke as a nonsmoker, and only 10 years to halve the risk of dying from lung cancer.
References
- American Cancer Society: Questions about Smoking, Tobacco, and Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Adult Cigarette Smoking in the United States: Current Estimate
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Smoking and Tobacco Use - Fast Facts
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Secondhand Smoke
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Youth and Tobacco Use
