Since the 1960s, a smoker’s risk of developing lung cancer or COPD has actually increased compared with nonsmokers, even though the number of cigarettes consumed per smoker has decreased ( 1). In addition, smoking causes inflammation and impairs immune function ( 1). Smokers are at higher risk of developing pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other airway infections ( 1– 3). Smoking also causes heart disease, stroke, aortic aneurysm (a balloon-like bulge in an artery in the chest), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ( chronic bronchitis and emphysema), diabetes, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, age-related macular degeneration, and cataracts, and worsens asthma symptoms in adults. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, cervix, colon, and rectum, as well as acute myeloid leukemia ( 1– 3). Smoking harms nearly every bodily organ and organ system in the body and diminishes a person’s overall health. Mortality rates among smokers are about three times higher than among people who have never smoked ( 6, 7). Of those premature deaths, about 36% are from cancer, 39% are from heart disease and stroke, and 24% are from lung disease ( 1). Cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke cause about 480,000 premature deaths each year in the United States ( 1). Smoking is the leading cause of premature, preventable death in this country.
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