Smoking Pack Year Calculator

Medical Standard Calculator
-For Health Professionals
-General Public for private use

The risk of developing a smoking related illness is linked to lifetime tobacco exposure. Cigarettes, cigars, pipes, rollups all contain different amounts of tobacco. People can smoke more than one type, a persons smoking habit can change over time. So how do you measure a patients lifetime tobacco exposure and their risk of developing a smoking related disease?

Calculating an individuals smoking pack year history is the international medical standard, used by health professionals across the world. It quantifies tobacco exposure and strongly correlates with the likelihood of developing a smoking related disease.

This calculator is based on the international definition of Pack Years. Conversions between cigarettes, cigars, pipes, loose tobacco is not an exact science. The approximations used in this calculator are based on accepted conversion rates. More information is provided in the app.

How To Use:
- Enter cigarettes smoked per day and number of years smoked.
- Enter different numbers for different periods of life.
- Repeat same for cigars, cigarillos, pipes, loose tobacco (grams or ounces, either per week/or day)
- Table of Results Shown
- Calculate Total Pack Years

Will 3 cigars/day for 20yrs result in less tobacco exposure than 10 cigarettes/day for 20 yrs?

50 grams of loose tobacco a week for 18yrs equals how many standard cigarette pack years?

Smoking Pack Year Calculator will quantify tobacco exposure and highlight potential risk.

There are no international definitions of light/heavy smoking.
Generally a result of <20 Pack Years is considered light/moderate. Above this is heavy/very heavy smoking.

The risk of all smoking related diseases
increases with increasing pack years. With results of >30 pack years the risk of developing all smoking related diseases is significantly increased.
Quitting at any age reduces risk.
The final responsibility for accurately quantifying exposure and assessing risk lies with the user. Results should be validated against an external source. No guarantee of accuracy is expressed or implied.
Speak to your doctor for a tailored risk assessment.