Tobacco and premature death

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of premature death in Canada.Footnote 1

Key facts about tobacco use and premature death

  • Tobacco use is a known or probable cause of more than 40 debilitating and often fatal diseases of the lungs, heart, and other organs.Footnote 2 It also increases the risk of dying from common illnesses, such as pneumonia.Footnote 3
  • Based on 2017 data, about 48,000 people in Canada die from tobacco use each year.*Footnote 2 Since 2000, cigarettes have killed more than 1 million people in Canada.
  • About 125 Canadians die every day of a smoking-related illness —more than the total of all deaths due to alcohol, opioids, suicides, murders, and traffic collisions.Footnote 2Footnote 4Footnote 5
  • Smoking accounted for 21,366 cancer deaths, 12,710 heart disease deaths, and 9,937 respiratory disease deaths in 2012.Footnote 5
  • Second-hand smoke accounted for 993 deaths in 2012. Of those, 612 were from heart disease and 373 from lung cancer.Footnote 5
  • Someone who smokes has a greater risk of dying prematurely than someone who does not smoke.Footnote 6 The younger someone starts smoking, the greater their risk of premature death.

*According to the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms 2007-2020 report, approximately 46,000 people in Canada died from tobacco use in 2020.Footnote 11

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What is premature death?

Premature death is when someone dies before reaching normal life expectancy. In other words, their lives are cut short. In Canada, males can expect to live about 80 years, and females about 84 years.Footnote 7

Smoking can shorten life expectancy by about 10 years.Footnote 8Therefore, males who smoke could expect to live to 70 years and females to 74 years, on average.Footnote 3

People who smoke are at greater risk for debilitating and fatal diseases of the heart, lungs, and other organs. Smoking decreases overall health, which reduces quality of life and increases the risk for premature death.Footnote 3

How does tobacco use increase the risk of premature death?

Some of the chemicals in tobacco smoke are carcinogenic, meaning they can cause mutations in cells of the body. This can lead to disease, disability, and premature death.Footnote 9 Some chemicals contribute to cancer while some interfere with normal heart and lung function.Footnote 3Footnote 9

How does quitting reduce the risk of premature death?

Quitting smoking at any age immediately reduces the risk of disease and death. Quitting smoking also has long-term health benefits that increase over the next 10 to 15 years.Footnote 10

Smoking can reduce life expectancy by an estimated 10 years.Footnote 10 Quitting by age 40 could reduce this risk by about 90%. Even quitting at the age of 60 can help reduce this risk by 40%.Footnote 3

Health benefits of quitting tobacco use at any age

Quitting tobacco use is one of the best ways to avoid premature death. Quitting also improves health and enhances quality of life.Footnote 10 Quitting at any age is beneficial to one's health.Footnote 10 Even people who have smoked or used tobacco heavily for many years benefit from it.Footnote 6Footnote 10 Quitting is the most important thing someone who smokes can do to improve their health.

Read more about the benefits of quitting smoking.

For help to quit

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Footnotes

Footnote 1

Current smoking trends. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-624-X. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/82-624-x/2012001/article/11676-eng.pdf?st=wDqqRWTv

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Scientific Working Group. (2020). Canadian substance Use Costs and Harms (2015–2017). (Prepared by the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.) Ottawa ON: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0156-0 Deaths, by cause, Chapter XX: External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01 to Y89). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1310015601#timeframe

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

Dobrescu A, Bhandari A, Sutherland G, Dinh T. The costs of tobacco use in Canada, 2012. The Conference Board of Canada; 2017. https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/2717d393-a67a-40b4-8691-fff94e13ff9b/9185_Costs-Tobacco-Use_RPT.pdf

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote 6

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2004.

Return to footnote 6 referrer

Footnote 7

Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0114-01Life expectancy and other elements of the complete life table, three-year estimates, Canada, all provinces except Prince Edward Island. https://doi.org/10.25318/1310011401-eng

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Footnote 8

Jha P, Ramasundarahettige C, Landsman V, et al. 21st-century hazards of smoking and benefits of cessation in the united states. New England Journal of Medicine. 2013;368(4):341-350. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1211128.

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Footnote 9

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2010.

Return to footnote 9 referrer

Footnote 10

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2020.

Return to footnote 10 referrer

Footnote 11

Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Scientific Working Group. (2023). Canadian substance use costs and harms 2007–2020. (Prepared by the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.) Ottawa, Ont.: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.

Return to footnote 11 referrer

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