Cigarette Smoking Facts & Effects: Tobacco Causes Lung Cancer & 11 More Cancers

A new research has shown that cigarette smoking causes 11 more types of cancers aside from lung cancer.

In the findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that nearly half of almost 346,000 deaths from 12 cancers in adults ages 35 and above in 2011 were caused by smoking. Out of the said number, researchers found that the majority of deaths were attributed to: lung, bronchus, and trachea cancer. Other illnesses brought about by smoking were cancers of the larynx, oral cavity, esophagus and urinary bladder.

According to the researchers, even though smoking prevalence has decreased from almost 24 percent in 2000 to 18.1 percent in 2012, a smoker's risk of dying from smoking-related cancer can increase over time. In the statistics by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one in five Americans, 18 years or older, smoke cigarettes. It is estimated that 42.1 million adults in the United States are smokers.

For the study, the scientists analyzed information taken from the 2011 National Health Interview Survey and the Cancer Prevention Study III. However, the study had limitation issues as it was not racially diverse and exposures to other tobacco products were unaccounted for.

"Cigarette smoking continues to cause numerous deaths from multiple cancers despite half a century of decreasing prevalence," the study authors said as per Eureka Alert. "Continued progress in reducing cancer mortality, as well as deaths from many other serious diseases, will require more comprehensive tobacco control, including targeted cessation support."

The American Cancer Society stated in their website that lung cancer has a high mortality rate and is the leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women in the United States. However, it is a highly preventable type of cancer death worldwide.

The agency fact sheet added that women smokers are 25.7 times more likely to develop lung cancer compared to their smoke-free counterparts. In smoking men, they are 25 times more at risk than men who don't smoke.

Tobacco contributes to at least 30 percent of all deaths due to cancer; it causes 87 percent of lung cancer fatalities in men and 70 percent deaths in women.

Tobacco does not only cause lung cancer. It can also increase the likeliness of developing cancers of the lips, nose, sinuses, mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, stomach, bladder, uterus, colon, cervix, ovaryand acute myeloid leukemia.

For non-smokers, there are about 3,400 who die of lung cancer from breathing secondhand smoke every year. Secondhand smoke also causes 42,000 non-smokers to die from heart disease annually.