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Evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship. | ̃ | Proven to cause the disease. |
Evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relationship. | ̃ | May cause the disease. |
Evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or absence of a causal relationship. | ̃ | There is not enough proof that smoking does or does not cause the disease. |
Evidence is suggestive of no causal relationship. | ̃ | Probably does not cause the disease. |
For the Surgeon General to conclude that smoking is proven to cause a particular disease, there must be enough scientific evidence that smoking either increases the overall number of cases of the disease or makes the disease occur earlier than it otherwise would. The reports use a number of criteria to guide their judgment:
As a companion resource for scientists, medical students, and others, a new interactive database of more than 1,600 articles cited in the Surgeon General’s report is available through the Internet at www.cdc.gov/tobacco. The database is easily accessible and can serve as a primary source of information about smoking-related disease research. The user can select search criteria to see results from the key studies cited in this report on topics such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, reproductive effects, and other health effects. The user also can develop customized analyses, tables, and figures by using the interactive features of the database.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and has negative health impacts on people at all stages of life. It harms unborn babies, infants, children, adolescents, adults, and seniors.
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