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CDC Releases New
State-Specific Tobacco Data
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has released a new online information database, the State Tobacco Activities Tracking and
Evaluation (STATE) System, which summarizes information on tobacco use in all 50
states and the District of Columbia.
The STATE System is the first-ever online
compilation of current state-based information and historical data on the prevalence of
tobacco use, tobacco control laws, the health impact and costs associated with tobacco
use, and tobacco agriculture and manufacturing. Much of STATE's information mirrors data
in the CDC publication State Tobacco Control Highlights, first released in 1996.
The new online system allows the user to print reports and browse the system
interactively. An updated edition of State Tobacco Control Highlights will be
printed later this summer.
"The beauty of this new system is
that it allows public health workers and policy makers at the state level to compare their
states with other states using comparable measures across a wide range of data
sources," said CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan. "These data are especially
critical now, when states are deciding how to support youth tobacco prevention and control
efforts."
The following are examples of the type of
information posted on STATE:
- State-specific smoking prevalence among
adults varies more than twofold, ranging from a low of 13.7 percent in Utah to a high of
30.8 percent in Kentucky.
- Current smoking among young people (grades
9-12) ranges from 16.4 percent in Utah to 47.0 percent in Kentucky, almost a threefold
difference.
- Among states with laws that restrict
smoking in private worksites, only California meets the nation's Healthy People 2000
objective to eliminate nonsmokers' exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
- State excise taxes on cigarettes range
from a low of 2.5 cents per pack in Virginia to a high of $1.00 per pack in Alaska.
The system enables users to browse data
for a specific state or view and print out a number of preformatted reports that summarize
information for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The STATE System is formatted
in six data profiles: behaviors, demographics, economics, health consequences and cost,
legislation, and program implementation. The data are extracted from several sources,
including the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; Current Population Surveys;
Economic Research Service; Public Health Reports; Smoking-Attributable Mortality,
Morbidity and Economic Costs; Tobacco Institute; U.S. Census; and the Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System.
The STATE
System is on the CDC, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health's Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS)
Web site and the "Online Help" section provides users with detailed information
about the system and how to use it.
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