pack years

A crude indicator of a person's cumulative cigarette consumption, which is equal to the number of packs (assuming 20 cigarettes per pack) of cigarettes smoked/day, multiplied by years of consumption

pack years

(pak yērz) Person's cigarette consumption calculated as the packs of cigarettes smoked per day, multiplied by the length of consumption in years (e.g., 1.5 packs of cigarettes smoked per day for 20 years is 30 pack years).