A pack-year history is one way of understanding how much someone has smoked over their lifetime.
You will need to know your smoking pack year history when the National Lung Cancer Screening starts from 1 July 2025. You can calculate your pack year history using the tool below.
Regardless of your pack year history, we are interested in your participation in this study.
This calculator helps you work out your smoking pack-year history by adding the number of years you have smoked and the average number of cigarettes you have smoked.
Calculating your pack-year history can be difficult because you may have quit for a period of time or smoked more or less often at different times in your life.
Here are some examples
John started smoking in his 20s, but quit when he turned 30. However, at 35, John started smoking again. John is now 51. John has smoked for 10 years + 16 years = 26 years. He thinks on average he has probably smoked 25 cigarettes a day over that time (just over one pack per day). Using the calculator, his pack year history is 32.5 pack-years, which means he’s eligible for lung cancer screening.
Tracy started smoking when she was 15 years old. She smoked for the next 12 years until she got pregnant at 27. She had three children and started smoking again when she was 35 and currently smokes one packet of cigarettes a day (20 pack). Tracy is now 58. Tracy has smoked for 12 years + 23 years = 35 years. Using the calculator, her pack year history is 35 years, which means she’s eligible for lung cancer screening.