Smoking kills 443,000 prematurely in U.S.

ATLANTA, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- More than 400,000 people in the United States die prematurely each year as a result of smoking or secondhand smoke, government health officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Adult and Child Health Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity and Economic Cost software, said that during 2000-04, an estimated 443,000 people in the United States died prematurely each year as a result of smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke.

This figure is higher than the average annual estimate of approximately 438,000 deaths during 1997-2001 and is predominantly a result of population growth, the report said.

During 2001-04, the average annual smoking-attributable healthcare expenditure nationwide was approximately $96 billion. When combined with productivity losses of $97 billion, the total economic burden of smoking is approximately $193 billion per year, the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality weekly report said.