Smoking, mortality, and six in a community hospital necropsy population

Analysis of 344 necropsies at a community hospital disclosed a male to female ratio of 1.9:10 and a smoking incidence over twice that of the general population. Overall longevity for men was less than for women. Intragroup comparisons showed an inverse relationship between smoking and longevity. Smokers in general and subsets of male and female smokers thus died earlier than respective nonsmokers. Trends for nonsmoking men and women were not different. However, smoking women surprisingly died earlier than smoking men at comparable pack-year exposure levels. Conversely, nonsmokers were most likely to achieve old age with freedom from diseases usually associated with smoking. We conclude that smoking predisposes to hospitalization, with premature death. Men suffer the most, probably because of traditionally heavier usage. For reasons unclear, however, women who do smoke may exhibit excessive vulnerability in some situations.