Deaths in Hong Kong caused by tobacco may predict what will happen in China

In the general population of Hong Kong in 1998 tobacco caused about 33% of all male deaths at ages 35-69 plus 5% of all female deaths, amounting to 25% of all deaths at these ages. This case control study by Lam and colleagues (p 361) is the first to assess the hazards in a Chinese population that is at a fairly advanced stage of the epidemic of tobacco deaths among middle aged men. Therefore it may well foreshadow what will happen among men throughout mainland China over the next few decades. China, with 20% of the world's population, now smokes 30% of the world's cigarettes.