Question

What is the most significant cause of respiratory disease as well as cardiovascular disease and cancer?

Answer 1

smoking

Smoking is the most significant cause of respiratory disease as well as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Exposure to tobacco smoke by smoking or by breathing air that contains tobacco smoke is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Regular smokers die about 10 years earlier than nonsmokers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  CDC  describes tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of [early] death worldwide. ".