TOBACCO & HEALTH

The Health Consequences of Smoking on the Human Body

Click on the image to the right to see the effects of smoking on your body

Smoking harms nearly every organ of your body, causing many diseases and reducing your health in general.

Smoking cigarettes with lower tar and nicotine provides no clear benefit to health.

The list of diseases caused by smoking has been expanded to include abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataract, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, periodontitis, and stomach cancer.

THE MOUTH, THROAT, LARYNX, ESOPHAGUS

The mouth and throat (also called your pharynx) are the body's entry points for food and air. The esophagus is a muscular tube that moves food from your mouth into your stomach. The larynx allows the passage of air to and from your lungs. The larynx is sometimes called the voice-box because it is used to create the sounds of speech.

THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON THE MOUTH, THROAT, LARYNX, AND ESOPHAGUS

  • Smokers have more gum disease than nonsmokers.
     

  • Smoking causes oral or mouth cancer.
     

  • When people smoke pipes or cigars, they are also at increased risk of getting mouth cancer. Reducing the use of cigarettes, pipes, cigars, smokeless tobacco and other tobacco products could prevent most of the estimated 30,200 new cases and 7,800 deaths from oral cavity and pharynx cancers annually in the United States.
     

  • Smoking causes throat cancer.
     

  • Smoking causes cancer of the larynx.
    In 2003, roughly 3,800 deaths occurred from laryngeal cancer, in the United States.
     

  • Smoking causes cancer of the esophagus.
    Esophageal cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. Reductions in smoking and in use of smokeless tobacco could prevent many of the approximately 12,300 new cases and 12,000 deaths from esophageal cancer that occur annually in the United States.
     

  • Smokers are more likely to have upper respiratory tract infections like colds and sore throats due to viral or bacterial infections.
     

  • Smoking harms the body's ability to fight infections.

For more information click here. The Health Consequences of Smoking on The Human Body This interactive animation outlines the effects of smoking on the different organs of the human body.

Most Teens Don't Smoke


Adapted from CDC's Office on Smoking and Health 2003 statistics

If most teens don't smoke, why should you?

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

Within 20 minutes after you smoke that last cigarette, your body begins a series of changes that continue for years.

20 Minutes After - Quitting Your heart rate drops.

12 hours After - Quitting Carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2 Weeks to 3 Months After  - Quitting Your heart attack risk begins to drop. Your lung function begins to improve.

1 to 9 Months After - Quitting Your Coughing and shortness of breath decrease.

1 Year After - Quitting Your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's.

5 Years After - Quitting Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker's 5-15 years after quitting.

10 Years After - Quitting Your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker's. Your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases.

15 Years After - Quitting Your risk of coronary heart disease is back to that of a nonsmoker's.

Adapted and modified from CDC's Office on Smoking and Health 2003