During 1997 to 2001, cigarette smoking and tobacco use killed 259,494 men and 178,408 women annually in the U.S. Of the deaths, 158,529 or 39.8 percent resulted from lung cancer and others, 137,979 or 34.7 percent from heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases, and 101,454 or 25.5 percent from asthma and other respiratory diseases.