A Review of the Claim that Excess Morbidity and Disability Can Be Ascribed to Smoking

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes an HEW report on smoking and morbidity based on a study suffering from two major flaws. First, the data actually presented in the report may not warrant the conclusion that cigarette smoking leads to increases in disease and disabilities (female smokers, by and large, report fewer diseases than do female non-smokers, and moderate smokers, comprising over 72% of the smoking population for males and over 88% for females, report the fewest number of diseases and have the lowest prevalence rates for both men and women), second, inadequate attention has been paid to the potential influence of various aspects of the survey method on these findings. There appears to be several obvious sources of error for which adjustments were not made.