Over 100,000 more Americans die each year from other illnesses linked to smoking, said the American Cancer Association.

Add this toll to the 480,000 other deaths due to causes traditionally attributed to cancer and the number of cancer deaths every year could swell to as many as 575,000 when the new causes of death are included, said the U.S. Surgeon General. Some 18 percent of American adults smoke.

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There are 21 causes of death directly attributed to smoking and 83 percent of smokers died from one of them, according to a recent clinical study conducted by the American Cancer Society and several universities. This study looked beyond lung cancer, heart disease and other conditions already linked to death by smoking.

When researchers analyzed the data more closely, however, they found smokers were also more likely to die from diseases traditionally described as non-smoking related diseases. These additional diseases are breast cancer, kidney failure, prostate cancer and infections.

Researchers aren't certain why smokers are more vulnerable to breast cancer, kidney failure and infections. What they do know is that cigarette smoke is known to interfere with the body's immune function.

On average, smokers die more than a decade before nonsmokers. Smoking also accounts for one of every five deaths in the U.S.

In this new study, researchers looked at nearly one million Americans 55 years and older that participated in five studies since 2000. They tracked the participants' health for about 10 years and compared deaths from various causes among smokers, never smokers and former smokers. They also took into account other things that influence risk such as alcohol use.

Researchers found death rates were two to three times higher among current smokers than among people who never smoked.

Most of the excess deaths in smokers caused by the 21 diseases already linked to smoking. These include 12 types of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Researchers, however, also saw death rates in smokers were twice as high from other conditions such as kidney failure, infections, liver cirrhosis and some respiratory diseases not previously tied to smoking. The report strengthened the evidence these new sources to smoking.

The study also discovered that female smokers' risk of dying of breast cancer is 30 percent greater than for nonsmokers. Male smokers have a 40 percent greater risk of dying of prostate cancer than nonsmokers do.