Well often there is good reason to attribute a death to prior...

Well often there is good reason to attribute a death to prior smoking history. There are numerous issues smoking can cause, and the fact a patient has stopped smoking, even decades later, is not necessarily relevant. As an example, smoking can change your blood vessels, likely permanently. A smoker has a higher risk of stroke than a non smoker. If someone dies two decades after quitting smoking from a stroke, the fact that they smoked for a decade before quitting is still highly relevant. While many statistics are useless, don't write them off unless you TRULY understand their implications. Some of the stuff I have read from lay persons in regards to stats lately would be highly amusing if not for the potential for misunderstanding and conspiracy theories to spring up from misunderstanding these things.