Tobacco: the 56 diseases whose risk is increased by cigarettes

“Smoking kills”, we know. On the other hand, few people know precisely the nature of the diseases that hides behind the consumption of tobacco. And yet: according to a new study published this December 1 in the journal The Lancet Public Health, smoking has been associated with higher risks of 22 causes of death and 56 diseases.

512,726 adults recruited, 85 causes of death and 480 diseases screened

As part of this study, 512,726 adults aged 30 to 79 were recruited, including 302,525 women and 210,201 men, from the China Kadoorie Biobank.

Various data were then collected: the period when the participants started to smoke, their smoking habits (nature of the product consumed, frequency), their age, alcohol consumption and general level of education.

Each participant was also followed for nearly 11 years; period during which 48,800 deaths were recorded and 1.14 million pathological events were identified.

The researchers also studied 85 causes of death and 480 diseases related to smoking, in an attempt to identify precisely the harmful effects of cigarettes.

The indisputable and terrifying harms of smoking

Tobacco has been associated with an increased risk of 22 causes of death and 56 diverse and varied diseases (cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, pneumothorax, angina pectoris, cirrhosis, ulcers, pneumonia, etc.).

• Of nearly 85 causes of death and 480 diseases studied, smoking was associated with higher risks of 22 causes of death (17 for men and 9 for women) and 56 individual diseases (50 for men and 24 for women). women) in all medical fields;
• Compared to people who had never smoked, men who had ever smoked regularly had an almost 10% higher risk of developing disease, ranging from +6% higher risk for diabetes to +216% for cancer from the larynx;
• Regular smokers who lived in urban areas tended to start smoking at a younger age and smoked more heavily than those in rural areas; they were therefore at greater risk of death (+50% versus +25%), especially those who started smoking before the age of 18 (with a doubling for overall mortality and a 32% increase for the occurrence of disease);
• 19.6% of male deaths (24.3% of urban males and 16.2% of rural males) and 2.8% of female deaths were attributed to regular smoking;
• People who quit smoking voluntarily (i.e. before developing serious illnesses) had similar levels of risk of developing illness as people who had never smoked, around 10 years after quitting ;
• Despite the lower prevalence and intensity of smoking among women smokers, they had comparable relative risks of major respiratory diseases, demonstrating a particular vulnerability to tobacco harm compared to men;
• Smokers of both sexes were likely to die a median of 3.5 years earlier and among men this survival gap between smokers and non-smokers is likely to increase significantly in coming decades.