Tobacco and Kidney Cancer
Cigarettes cause kidney cancer.Footnote 1
- Key facts about tobacco use and kidney cancer
- What is kidney cancer?
- How does tobacco use increase the risk of kidney cancer?
- How does quitting reduce the risk of kidney cancer?
- Health benefits of quitting tobacco use at any age
- Call for free help to quit
Key facts about tobacco use and kidney cancer
- Approximately 17% of kidney cancer cases were due to smoking in 2015.Footnote 2
- The risk of kidney cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked and the amount of time spent smoking.Footnote 1Footnote 3
- People with kidney cancer who continue to smoke have about a 30% increased risk to die compared to those who do not smoke.Footnote 4
- In 2022, it was estimated there would be 8,100 new cases of kidney cancer in Canada, and 1,950 kidney cancer deaths.Footnote 5
- In Canada, 27% of people diagnosed with kidney cancer are predicted to die within five years, according to 2015-2017 data.Footnote 6
View health-related messages for all tobacco product packaging.
What is kidney cancer?
The kidneys are a bean-shaped organ located on either side of the spine. The kidneys filter the body's blood and produce urine, which is stored in the bladder.
Kidney cancer develops when the uncontrolled growth of kidney cells leads to the formation of a mass or tumor in the kidney. This tumor can grow and spread to other parts of the body.Footnote 7
Symptoms of kidney cancer do not usually appear until the tumor grows larger and spreads to other organs. Common symptoms include blood in the urine, pain or a lump in the side or back, high blood pressure, recurrent fever, and unexplained weight loss.Footnote 8
Treatment for kidney cancer can include freezing (cryoablation) or burning of the tumor with electricity (radiofrequency ablation), surgical removal of part or all of the kidney, chemotherapy, and radiation.Footnote 9Footnote 10
How does tobacco use increase the risk of kidney cancer?
Some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke have the potential to cause cancer by altering the cells of the body, creating cellular mutations, which leads to the development of kidney cancer.Footnote 11
How does quitting reduce the risk of kidney cancer?
When someone stops smoking, their risk of kidney cancer begins to decline.Footnote 4 After quitting for 15 years or more, their risk is reduced by up to 25%.Footnote 5
Quitting is one of the best ways to avoid the development of kidney cancer and other tobacco-related diseases.Footnote 4Footnote 12
If someone who smokes has kidney cancer, quitting can still benefit them. Quitting smoking can improve recovery for cancer patients.Footnote 13
Continuing to smoke after a cancer diagnosis can lower chances of survival and increase the risk for other cancers caused by tobacco smoke, such as lung cancer.Footnote 13
Health benefits of quitting tobacco use at any age
Quitting tobacco use reduces the risk of premature death, improves health, and enhances quality of life.Footnote 14 Quitting at any age is beneficial to one's health.Footnote 14 Even people who have smoked or used tobacco heavily for many years benefit from it.Footnote 1Footnote 14 Quitting is the most important thing someone who smokes can do to improve their health.
Read more about the benefits of quitting smoking.
Call for free help to quit
Call the toll-free pan-Canadian quit line at 1-866-366-3667. Quit line counselling, alone or in combination with cessation medications, increases success in quitting.Footnote 5
Footnotes
- Footnote 1
-
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.
- Footnote 2
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Poirier AE, Ruan Y, Grevers X, Walter SD, Villeneuve PJ, Friedenreich CM, Brenner DR; ComPARe Study Team. Estimates of the current and future burden of cancer attributable to active and passive tobacco smoking in Canada. Prev Med. 2019 May;122:9-19. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.03.015.
- Footnote 3
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McLaughlin J, Lindblad P, Mellemgaard A et al. International renal-cell cancer study. I. Tobacco use. Int J Cancer. 1995;60:194-198. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910600211.
- Footnote 4
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Cumberbatch M, Rota M, Catto J, Vecchia C. The role of tobacco smoke in bladder and kidney carcinogenesis: A comparison of exposures and meta-analysis of incidence and mortality risks. European Urology. 2016;70(3):458-466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2015.06.042
- Footnote 5
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Brenner DR, Poirier A, Woods RR, Ellison LF, Billette JM, Demers AA, Zhang SX, Yao C, Finley C, Fitzgerald N, Saint-Jacques N. Projected estimates of cancer in Canada in 2022. CMAJ. 2022 May 2;194(17):E601-7.
- Footnote 6
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Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee. Canadian Cancer Statistics 2021. Toronto, ON: Canadian Cancer Society: 2021. Available at: http://cancer.ca/Canadian-Cancer-Statistics-2021-EN
- Footnote 7
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Canadian Cancer Society. What is Kidney Cancer? Accessed July 15, 2022. https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/kidney/what-is-kidney-cancer
- Footnote 8
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Canadian Cancer Society. Symptoms of kidney cancer. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/kidney/signs-and-symptoms
- Footnote 9
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Canadian Cancer Society. Treatments for kidney cancer. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/kidney/treatment
- Footnote 10
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Canadian Cancer Society. Ablation therapy for kidney cancer. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/kidney/treatment/ablation-therapy
- Footnote 11
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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.
- Footnote 12
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Patel N, Attwood K, Hanzly M, Creighton T, Mehedint D, Schwaab T, Kauffman E. Comparative analysis of smoking as a risk factor among renal cell carcinoma histological subtypes. Journal of Urology. 2015;194(3):640-646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2015.03.125
- Footnote 13
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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.
- Footnote 14
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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.
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