- Although non-smokers are not immune to lung cancer, cigarette smoking is by far the most important risk factor for this disease.
- Compared with those who continue to smoke, people who do quit before they are 50 years old cut in half their risk of dying in the next 15 years.
- In smokers who have been treated for lung cancer, quitting smoking lowers their risk of lung cancer recurrence.
- Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and causes a variety of cancers including lung, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreatic, stomach, cervical cancer and acute myeloid leukemia.
- 90% of lung cancer deaths among men and approximately 80% of lung cancer deaths among women are caused by smoking.
- Besides cancer, smoking also causes heart disease and most cases of chronic lung diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis.
