Smoking Causes 12 Different Kinds of Cancers

Everyone knows smoking can cause lung cancer. But it also causes a whole array of other varieties of the disease, from pancreatic cancer to leukemia. Now, new research sheds light on just how deadly tobacco can be when smokers get cancer.

Smoking causes more than 48% of deaths from the 12 types of cancer sometimes caused by smoking, according to new research in JAMA Internal Medicine. Smoking caused more than 80% of lung cancer deaths as well as 77% of larynx cancer deaths. Other top cancers caused by smoking include esophagus, kidney and liver cancer.

Researchers analyzed 2011 data from interviews conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the study. Overall, approximately 168,000 people are estimated to die of cancer due to smoking in the United States each year.

The study’s researchers note that the prevalence of smoking has been on the decline in recent decades but argue that more needs to be done.

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,” they conclude.