Cigarette smoking is a known cause of at least 25 diseases, including cancers, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute respiratory illnesses, and adverse reproductive effects (including sudden infant death syndrome).

Cigarette smoking is a known cause of at least 25 diseases, including lung and other cancers (bladder, cervical, esophageal, kidney, laryngeal, oral, pancreatic and stomach, and acute myeloid leukemia), heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute respiratory illnesses, and adverse reproductive effects (including sudden infant death syndrome). On average, lifelong smokers have a 50% chance of dying from a tobacco-related disease, and half of these deaths occur between the ages of 30 and 69 years. Smoking accounts for 12% of global adult mortality with more men in developing countries dying from smoking than those in industrialized countries.

1. US Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: US 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. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004
2. Mackay J, Eriksen M, Shafey O. The Tobacco Atlas, 2nd ed. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society, 2006. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/AA/content/AA_2_5_9x_Tobacco_Atlas.asp