A new report on the harmful effects of smoking says an estimated 480,000 deaths are caused by tobacco use in the United States each year.
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, said there were 14 million Americans who suffered from at least one serious smoking-induced illness in 2009.
This is despite the fact that smoking rates among adults and teens are dropping.
Scott McIntosh, associate director of the Smoking Research Program at the University of Rochester, says that is not a contradiction.
"Because the problems caused by smoking can happen years later and can permeate throughout every organ of the body, so it's an ongoing problem,” McIntosh said. “For example, in cancer-related morbidity and mortality, it can be up to twenty years later when you start to see those numbers go down to mimic when the smoking prevalence has gone down."
Diabetes was the most prevalent condition reported among smokers. Researchers say chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a much more common result of smoking than previously thought. They attribute the discrepancy from past numbers to under-reporting and the slow progression of the condition.
McIntosh said not enough doctors are screening patients for tobacco use.
"Many physicians feel they haven't been trained in that, or they're not aware of those referral strategies, or they sometimes feel they don't have enough time to spend on that if a patient comes in for a problem that is not at all in their mind related to smoking-although, as this article points out, smoking affects every organ of the body-and so, they don't routinely address it."
New York State has a toll-free line for people who want to quit smoking, 866-NY-QUITS. There is also a state-sponsored website www.NYSmokeFree.com that offers a free two-week nicotine patch kit. The federal government website www.SmokeFree.gov links to social media and community forums to help smokers kick the habit.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
