It’s true - most smokers will not die of lung cancer. In fact, nine of ten smokers will escape lung cancer entirely.
*"Smoking accounts for 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of lung cancer deaths; the risk of developing lung cancer is about 23 times higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers; smoking is associated with increased risk of at least 15 types of cancer…smoking causes millions of deaths worldwide.
What does this mean? To the happy and dedicated smoker, it means nothing.
Rarely are simple messages heard, such as the fact that about half of all smokers will die from smoking, and of these, about half will die before or around age 50. These numbers come from a landmark 50-year study of physicians in England, initiated in 1951.
Similarly, research from the ongoing Nurses’ Health Study, published in May this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finds that 64 percent of nurses who smoked died from smoking-related causes. The life expectancy for a smoker in the United States is about 64, which is 14 years shorter than the national average (which includes smokers), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Going by these numbers it becomes clear that few pastimes, habits or addictions are deadlier than smoking. Only Russian roulette and scorpion juggling come to mind.
Part of the problem of the misconception of real risks is the emphasis on smoking and lung cancer. The greater danger is from vascular diseases leading to heart attacks and stroke, which kill more smokers than all cancers combined. Toxins in the tobacco smoke cause inflammation and hardening in the arteries.
Nearly as common as lung cancer among smokers is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which entails the narrowing of airways in the lung, largely in the form of chronic bronchitis or emphysema…
If painful death as a middle-age adult doesn’t move you, consider life-quality issues. Smokers get sick more often because smoke paralyzes tiny hair-like structures in the lungs called cilia, which otherwise sweep dirt and bacteria out of your lungs. Smokers have less endurance, particularly sexual endurance, because carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in the blood.
Yet the core argument of ardent smokers remains firm: Smoking doesn’t kill everyone. About 50 percent of smokers do reach old age, albeit with diminished taste buds, diminished endurance, diminished eyesight, yellow teeth and bad breath."*
As usual, I should reveal a conflict of interest here. As a pathologist, I see and diagnose cases of smoking-related cancer and other diseases on a daily basis. Smoking has been very very good to me, economically speaking.
So, don’t look at the statistics assuming you’ll be part of the 1/2 of smokers who’ll die of smoking-related causes - you’ve got a reasonably good shot of living to old age, like Grandpa who smoked three packs a day (between liberal doses of wine, women and song) and died happily in his sleep at age 90.
Enjoy!