Smoking causes at least 16 different types of cancer: lung, larynx, bladder, pharynx, oesophagus, liver, cervix, nasopharynx, pancreas, stomach, oral cavity, kidney, bowel, leukaemia, breast, and ovarian.[1]
Age-standardised incidence rates of some smoking-related cancers are decreasing, and this is thanks largely to decreases in smoking prevalence; these include lung cancer (decreasing in males), oesophageal cancer (decreasing in females), and bladder cancer. However, unless there is further progress in reducing smoking prevalence, these decreases are expected to slow and eventually stop.
Tobacco is the largest preventable cause of cancer and death in the UK.[2,3] and one of the largest preventable causes of illness and death in the world. [2] Tobacco caused an estimated 75,800 deaths in the UK in 2021 - around a tenth (11%) of all deaths from all causes, that’s around one person every seven minutes .[2] It caused an estimated 37,700 cancer deaths in the UK in 2021 - a fifth (20%) of all cancer deaths.[2] Smoking (both active smoking and environmental tobacco smoke) causes 3 in 20 (14%) cancer cases in the UK. There were an estimated 57,200 cases of cancer caused by smoking in the UK in 2023.[4]
Estimated Numbers and Proportions of Cancer Cases Attributable to Smoking, By Cancer Site, Persons, All Ages, UK, 2023
| Cancer site (ICD-10 codes) | Smoking-attributable cases | Smoking-attributable proportion |
| Lung (C33-C34) | 32,804 | 63% |
| Larynx (C32) | 1,389 | 62% |
| Bladder (C67) | 4,463 | 42% |
| Pharynx (C09-C10, C12-C14) | 1,261 | 34% |
| Oesophagus (C15) | 3,063 | 31% |
| Liver (C22) | 1,623 | 22% |
| Cervix (C53) | 639 | 19% |
| Nasopharynx (C11) | 47 | 18% |
| Pancreas (C25) | 2,057 | 17% |
| Stomach (C16) | 952 | 16% |
| Oral cavity (C00-C06) | 904 | 15% |
| Kidney (C64-C66, C68) | 2,144 | 14% |
| Bowel (C18-C20) | 3,062 | 7% |
| Leukaemia (C91-C95) | 630 | 6% |
| Breast (C50) | 2,150 | 4% |
| Ovary (C56-C57.4) | 17 | <1% |
| All cancers combined excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (C00-C97 excl C44) | 57,202 | 14% |
References
- International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Personal Habits and Indoor Combustions IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans Volume 100E. IARC: Lyon; 2012.
- Global Health Data Exchange. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Results Tool. Available from http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool. Accessed June 2024.
- Brown KF, Rumgay H, Dunlop C, et al. The fraction of cancer attributable to known risk factors in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the UK overall in 2015. British Journal of Cancer 2018.
- Cancer Research UK Cancer Intelligence team. The fraction of cancer attributable to known risk factors in UK countries in 2023, 2013, and 2003. In preparation, 2024.
About this data
The number of cancer cases attributable to smoking was calculated using the attributable risk formula applied to cancer incidence. Analysis was carried out in R version 4.3.1.
Cancer incidence data used in the calculation is for UK, projected for 2023, ICD 10 C00-C97, excl. C44. Projections were calculated by Cancer Research UK, based on the age-period-cohort modelling approach.
Exposure prevalence data used in the calculation is for 2013 to allow a 10-year lag. Data were collected from national health surveys for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Relative Risk (RR) values used in the calculation are from a systematic literature review, for lung (current and former smoking), lung (secondhand smoking), larynx, bladder, pharynx, oesophagus (adenocarcinoma), oesophagus (squamous cell carcinoma - current smoking), oesophagus (squamous cell carcinoma - former smoking), liver, cervix, nasopharynx, pancreas, stomach, oral cavity, kidney, bowel, leukaemia, breast and ovarian cancers.