Every cigarette you smoke is doing you damage! As a smoker you know the damage that smoking is doing to your body, but do you really understand the long term effects.
- In the UK, cigarette smoking is the greatest single cause of illness and premature death.
- About 106,000 people in the UK die each year due to smoking.
- Smoking-related deaths are mainly due to cancers, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and heart disease.
- About half of all smokers die from smoking-related diseases. Many of these deaths are not 'quick deaths' - in COPD, the patient suffers for several years of illness and distressing symptoms before they die.
- Smoking increases the risk of developing a number of other diseases. Many of these may not be fatal, but they can cause years of unpleasant symptoms.
- For long-term smokers, on average, your life expectancy is about 10 years less than a non-smoker.
- About 8 in 10 non-smokers live past the age of 70, but only about half of long-term smokers live past 70.
- The younger you are when you start smoking, the more likely you are to smoke for longer and to die early from smoking.

Photographs of oral cancer, throat cancer and a laryngectomy.