Smoking in relation to the death rates of one million men and women.

Hammond EC
In: Haenszel, W. ed. Epidemiological study of cancer and other chronic diseases. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office. January 1966. (National Cancer Institute Monograph 19) p. 127-204

This report focusing on the association between cigarette smoking and mortality rates among men and women in the U.S. is based on 3,764,571 person-years of experience and 43,221 deaths occurring among 440,558 men and 502,671 women subjects between the ages of 35 and 84. The subjects answered detailed questionnaires which included questions on their smoking habits between the period October 1, 1959 and February 15, 1960. Death rates of both men and women were higher among subjects with a history of cigarette smoking than among those who never smoked regularly. The death rates of current cigarette smokers increased with the number of cigarettes smoked daily and degree of inhalation. Death rates were higher among current cigarette smokers starting the habit at a young age than among those starting the habit later in life. Among both men and women, the difference between the death rates of cigarette smokers and nonsmokers increased with age. Death rates from the following diseases were much higher in men and women cigarette smokers than in nonsmokers: emphysema; cancer of the lung; cancer of the buccal cavity, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus; aortic aneurysm; cancer of the pancreas; and cirrhosis of the liver. Coronary heart disease accounted for 44.6% of the male deaths and 28.5% of the female deaths. Cerebral vascular lesions accounted for 8.6% of the male deaths and 12.3% of the female deaths. Total death rates and death rates from most of the common diseases occurring in both sexes were higher in men than women, were higher in men who never smoked regularly than in women who never smoked regularly, and were higher in men with a history of cigarette smoking than in women with a history of regular cigarette smoking. The difference between the death rates of subjects with a history of cigarette smoking and subjects who never smoked regularly was much greater among men than women.

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