Smoking and Lung Cancer

Smoking increases your risk of developing lung cancer. Twist the statistics any way you like – there’s no getting away from it. 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and 80% of lung cancer deaths in women are linked to smoking cigarettes.

Lung cancer is not the only cancer linked to smoking, either. Research has shown a strong link between smoking and cancer of the mouth, the larynx, the pharynx, the esophagus, the bladder, the stomach and the kidneys.

Cancer was the first disease to be linked to smoking, and lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

Smoking Statistics Related To Lung Cancer

Some other statistics related to lung cancer include:

• Men who smoke are 23 times more likely to develop cancer than men who don’t.
• Women who smoke are 13 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers
• There are over 4000 chemicals in burning cigarette smoke. At least 60 of those are known carcinogens.
• Smoking low tar, low nicotine or ‘light’ cigarettes does not decrease the risk of developing lung cancer. People tend to adjust their smoking style to increase the amount of tar and nicotine taken in through the lungs.
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for about 30% of all cancer deaths annually.
• Cigarette smoking causes 87% of lung cancer deaths.
• About 5% of all newly diagnosed cases of lung cancer are caused by secondhand smoke.
• Carcinogens in cigarette smoke damage the DNA in cells that controls their growth. Unrestrained growth and replication of cells is the hallmark of malignant cancer cells.
• Exposure to secondhand smoke, or passive smoking causes about 3000 lung cancer deaths per year.
• People who quit smoking before the age of 35 can reduce their risks of developing lung cancer by 90%/
• People who quit smoking before the age of 50 substantially reduce their risk of developing lung cancer.
• 7 of 8 people diagnosed with lung cancer will not be alive at five years after diagnosis.
• Lung cancer is the #9 cause of death in the United States.
• The more cigarettes you smoke, the more you increase your risk of developing lung cancer.
• As the number of smokers has decreased in the United States, the incidence of lung cancer has also decreased.

There are those that will try to tell you that the medical establishment is lying to you. They will quibble that it is not proven that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, that the statistics have been twisted to make the case against cigarette smoking stronger and worse than it really is.

To some extent, those things are true. Lung cancer is caused by a variety of things, including a genetic predisposition. There are a lot of things that doctors and researchers don’t yet understand – why some people can smoke for years and NOT develop lung cancer, while others who have never smoked do, for instance.

There is one thing that is sure – smoking does increase your risk of developing lung cancer. And you can decrease your risk of developing lung cancer by several percentage points per year by quitting smoking.