3.1 Tobacco—a leading preventable cause of death and disease

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3.0 Background

3.1 Tobacco—a leading preventable cause of death and disease

3.2 Cardiovascular diseases

3.3 Lung cancer

3.4 Respiratory diseases

3.5 Other cancers caused by or associated with smoking

3.6 Reproductive health and smoking

3.7 Pregnancy and smoking

3.8 Infant health and smoking

3.9 Increased susceptibility to infection in smokers

3.10 Eye diseases

3.11 Dental diseases

3.12 Gastrointestinal diseases

3.13 Bone density and risk of fractures

3.14 Effects of smoking on the skin

3.15 Smoking and complications in medical treatment

3.16 Smoking and diabetes

3.17 Poorer levels of general health

3.18 Smoking, motor vehicle crashes and other injuries

3.19 Burns and fires caused by tobacco use

3.20 Tobacco poisoning

3.21 Health effects for younger smokers

3.22 Genetic influences on tobacco-caused disease

3.23 Smoking, dementia and cognitive decline

3.24 Lung disease, smoking and occupational exposures

3.25 Air pollution, cigarette smoking and ill health

3.26 Health effects of smoking brands that claim to deliver lower levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide

3.27 Health effects of smoking tobacco in other forms

3.28 Health 'benefits' of smoking?

3.29 Morbidity (ill health) attributable to tobacco-caused disease

3.30 Deaths attributable to tobacco by disease category

3.31 Morbidity and mortality due to tobacco-caused disease and socioeconomic disadvantage

3.32 Health effects of smoking other substances

3.33 Health effects of chewing tobacco, and of other smokeless tobacco products

3.34 Public perceptions of tobacco as a drug, and knowledge and beliefs about the health consequences of smoking

3.35 Health benefits of cessation

3.36 The global tobacco pandemic

Acknowledgments

References

Smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of death and disease in Australia, responsible for about 15,000 deaths annually.[2]6, 7 In 2003, tobacco caused more than one in every 10 deaths in Australia, and taking into consideration sickness and disability as well as deaths, tobacco caused more disease and injury in Australia than any other single risk factor (Table 3.1).6 Tobacco is also responsible for most (90%) of all drug-caused deaths. In 2004–05, smoking caused 14 times as many deaths as alcohol, and 17 times the number of deaths due to illicit drug use7 (see Table 3.5).

It has been conservatively estimated that smoking kills about one half of all persistent users.2 Over the decades, the death toll from tobacco use has been vast. In the 50 years from 1950 (when the initial reports identifying smoking as a cause of lung cancer were published) to 2000, smoking is estimated to have killed 679,000 Australians.8

Tobacco use is also responsible for a growing global pandemic of death and disease, and is the cause of more than 10% of premature deaths worldwide9 (see Section 3.36).