About Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking

At a glance

  • Cigarette smoking is a major public health concern, with over 16 million Americans living with a smoking-related disease.
  • Smoking and secondhand smoke exposure cause over 480,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.
  • Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and causes many diseases.

Overview

More than 16 million Americans live with a disease caused by smoking.

  • Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease, death, and disability in the United States.1
  • Cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke exposure cause more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths.123
  • Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. It causes many diseases and reduces the health of people who smoke.12

Diseases caused by smoking include:

Diagram of human body labeled with areas/organs that can develop smoking-related cancers.
Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body.

See image guidance

Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.1

Secondhand smoke exposure contributes to over 40,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year.1

In adults, secondhand smoke causes:1

  • Coronary heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Lung cancer

Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk for:1

  • Sudden infant death syndrome
  • Acute respiratory infections
  • Middle ear disease
  • More severe asthma
  • Respiratory symptoms
  • Slowed lung growth

Health Effects of Cigarettes: Reproductive Health‎

Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk for pregnancy complications.

Resources

Print
Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Office on Smoking and Health
  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: U.S. 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, 2014. Accessed: April 24, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK179276.pdf
  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A Report of the Surgeon General. How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease. Atlanta: U.S. 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, 2010. Accessed: April 24, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53017/
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. QuickStats: Number of Deaths from 10 Leading Causes—National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2010. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2013:62(08);155. Accessed: April 24, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6208a8.htm?s_cid=mm6208a8_w