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Health Effects of Tobacco Use
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The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products, established in June 2009 by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, offers the United States a powerful new regulatory tool to make tobacco-related disease and death part of America's past, not its future. While there has been significant progress, the facts and figures below illustrate that tobacco use remains a major problem in the United States—one that FDA is working hard to help reduce.
Health Effects of Tobacco Use
- The adverse health effects from tobacco use cause more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States.1
- Smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, which is the single leading cause of death in the United States. Smoking causes 1 of every 3 deaths from cardiovascular disease.2
- Smoking increases the risk for stroke. Deaths from stroke are more likely among smokers than among former smokers or people who have never smoked.2
- In the United States, 1 of every 3 cancer deaths is linked to smoking.3 Smoking can cause cancer nearly anywhere in the body, including the lungs, oral cavity, stomach, bladder, kidney, uterine cervix, colon and rectum, and liver. The Surgeon General reports have identified at least 12 cancers caused by smoking.3
- Smoking is a cause of type 2 diabetes. More than 25 million adults in the United States suffer from diabetes. Smokers who have diabetes are more likely to have serious health problems, including heart and kidney disease, poor blood flow in the legs and feet that can lead to foot infections and other problems, and retinopathy (an eye disease that can cause blindness).4
- Nearly 8 in 10 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are caused by smoking. The number of Americans suffering from COPD is increasing, and there is no cure.5
- Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States.1
1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: US Dept 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; 2014.
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease (Fact Sheet). Atlanta, GA: US Dept 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; 2014.
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking and Cancer (Fact Sheet). Atlanta, GA: US Dept 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; 2014.
4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking and Diabetes (Fact Sheet). Atlanta, GA: US Dept 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; 2014.
5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking and Respiratory Diseases (Fact Sheet). Atlanta, GA: US Dept 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; 2014.