Cigarette Smoking-Attributable Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs)

Cigarette smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as ischemic heart disease, peripheral artery disease, stroke, atrial fibrillation and flutter, and aortic aneurysm, and related deaths. CVDs ranked highest in the top 10 leading causes of deaths accounting for 695,547 deaths (20.1% of all deaths) in the United States in 2021,¹ of which 189,122 CVD deaths (27.2% of all CVD deaths) were attributed to smoking.² There is significant variation in CVD-related death rate across 50 states and the District of Columbia (Maps 3.4.1 and 3.4.2) depending on the variation in the prevalence of behavioral, environmental/occupation, and physiological risk factors across states, including current and former smoking prevalence.

The risk of CVDs decreases significantly after smoking cessation (Figures 3.4.3 and 3.4.4). Globally, the US made the fastest progress in reducing smoking-induced CVD mortality during the 1990s that accelerated in the 2000s and then plateaued in the 2010s (Figure 3.4.5).