Smoking increases the risk for head and neck cancers for both men and women.

Cancers of the head and neck include cancers of the larynx, nasal passages, nose, oral cavity and pharynx.

According to the NCI, men are more than three times more likely than women to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer and more than twice as likely to die once diagnosed. A new study published in Cancer shows that while smoking plays a role in the development of these cancers in both men and women, smoking plays a greater role in women than in men.


Dr. Neal Freedman and colleagues from the NCI showed that the risk of smoking causing any type of head and neck cancer was significantly greater in women than in men. While 45 percent of such cancers could be linked to smoking in affected men, 75 percent could be attributed to smoking in affected women.


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