Cigarette smoking and risk of infection-related mortality: A cohort study.

In this large-scale cohort study of relatively young and middle-aged South Korean adults, current smoking, smoking intensity, and pack-years were associated with an increased risk of death due to infections; in particular, a significantly increased risk of infection-related mortality was consistently found in individuals with ≥20 pack-years. When appropriate, infection-related mortality should be included in smoking-attributable mortality burdens, and effective smoking control measures should be considered to improve infection-related mortality.