SMOKING AND DEATH RATES—REPORT ON FORTY-FOUR MONTHS OF FOLLOW-UP OF 187,783 MEN

Abstract

Total death rates in relation to smoking habits were studied in 187,783 men who were traced for an average of 44 months. Particular attention has been given to possible sources of bias in the data. Inclusion of each man in the series was determined on the basis of a questionnaire; death certificates were obtained on every one of the 11,870 men recorded as dead at the end of the 44-month period of this study. A total of 4,406 deaths occurred among men with a history of regular cigarette smoking only. This was an excess of 1,783 over the number that would have occurred had their age-specific death rate been the same as for men who never smoked. The mortality ratios were higher in the groups who smoked the largest number of packs per day, and cigarette smoking appeared to have far more effect on the death rate than did pipe or cigar smoking.