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Cigarette Smoking Among
Adults—United States, 1998
MMWR Highlights
Friday, October 6, 2000 / Vol. 49 / No. 39
- More than 47 million (24.1 percent) of adults
aged 18
years and older currently smoke in the United States
- 26.4 percent of
men and 22.0 percent of women.
- Adults with 16 or more years of education had the lowest smoking prevalence
(11.3 percent)
- reaching the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing smoking rates to no more than 12 percent. Adults
with
9
to
11 years of education had higher smoking prevalence (36.8 percent) than adults with fewer or more years of
education.
- Current smoking prevalence among young adults
aged 18-24 years was 25.8 percent in 1993, 28.7 percent
in 1997, and 27.9 percent in 1998, although the changes in smoking prevalence were not statistically significant.
The data suggest that smoking prevalence among
18
to
24 year olds now equals that of
25
to
44 year olds (27.5 %). In earlier
years smoking prevalence among young adults was lower than that of
25
to
44 year olds. There was no significant change
in smoking among adults aged 25-44
years for the same period.
- Smoking prevalence remained the highest among American
Indians/Alaska Natives at 40 percent in 1998. Prevalence among African-Americans (24.7 percent) and whites (25.0 percent)
remained higher than among Hispanics (19.1 percent) and Asians/Pacific Islanders (13.7 percent.) Smoking prevalence
among racial/ethnic populations has remained fairly stable in recent years.
- Smoking prevalence was higher among adults living below the poverty level (32.3 percent) than those living at
or above the poverty level (23.5 percent).
- Nearly 45 million adults (25.7 million men and 19.1 million women)
were former smokers, which remains unchanged from 1995 and 1997. Of current
everyday adult smokers in 1998, more
than 15 million quit smoking for at least one day during the year because they were trying to stop smoking.
- Smoking rates among adults could be cut in half within the decade, meeting the Healthy People 2010 objectives
related to reducing tobacco use, if the nation would fully implement tobacco prevention and control approaches
proven to be effective. This can only be achieved through
implementing of a science-based methods that include educational,
clinical, regulatory, economic, and comprehensive approaches as outlined in Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the
Surgeon General–2000 and CDC’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs.
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