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Your Body, Cigarette-Free
10 Years: Lung Cancer Risk Cut in Half
10 Years: Lung Cancer Risk Cut in Half
In the United States, smoking causes 90% of all lung cancer cases. Every time you inhale cigarette smoke, cancer-causing chemicals fill your lungs, increasing your risk for lung cancer. Nicotine also paralyzes the cilia in your lungs, making it harder for them to remove tar left behind by cigarette smoke.
Ten years after you give up cigarettes, your risk for dying from lung cancer is cut in half. Once you hit the 15-year mark, your risk of death from any smoking-induced condition is close to that of a non-smoker.
By Brittany Doohan. Published September 25, 2012. Updated April 9, 2015. Brittany is a health and lifestyle writer and editor living in San Francisco, CA.
Reviewed by Shira Goldenholz, MD, MPH on April 9, 2015.
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