MMWR - CDC helps the American Cancer Society (ACS) Celebrate Its 23rd "Great American Smokeout"

CDC helps the American Cancer Society (ACS) Celebrate Its 23rd "Great American Smokeout"

The Friday, November 5, 1999, issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) contains a cover article announcing the Great American Smokeout to be observed Thursday, November 18, 1999, and two articles, "Achievements in Public Health: Tobacco Use—United States, 1900-1999," and "Cigarette Smoking Among Adults—United States, 1997."

The American Cancer Society (ACS) will sponsor its annual "Great American Smokeout" (GASO) to encourage the approximately 48 million adult smokers in the United States to quit smoking for at least one day. ACS’ "Commit to Quit" program activities will provide adult smokers effective ways to quit. Currently, more than one-third of high school students (36.4 percent) reported smoking in the past month. With the observed increase in smoking among young people, the ACS has expanded its message to urge young people to either quit or never start smoking. GASO events this year will include cessation and prevention activities for persons of all ages at hospitals, worksites, schools, shopping malls, military installations, and other locations. For more information, contact your local ACS office, visit the ACS Web site* or call 1-800-227-2345.

The first article, "Achievements in Public Health: Tobacco Use—United States, 1900-1999," is one in a series of CDC articles recognizing ten of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. The article shows that per capita consumption of cigarettes decreased from a high of 4,345 cigarettes in 1963 to a low of 2,261 in 1998, the lowest level since the early 1940s. Despite tremendous public health strides made in reducing tobacco use, more effort is needed to reduce adult smoking, which has remained virtually unchanged in the 1990s; to reverse smoking prevalence among young people, which has been on the rise since 1991; to reduce disparities in smoking prevalence and smoking-related illnesses and deaths among racial/ethnic populations; and to implement and enforce public health policies to protect citizens from secondhand smoke.

Other study findings:

Smoking prevalence rates among adults aged 18 years and older decreased from 42.4 percent in 1965 to 24.7 percent in 1997.

An estimated 1.6 million deaths were postponed because of gains against cigarette smoking, saving more than 33 million person-years of life. Deaths from heart disease have decreased from 307.4 per 100,000 in 1950 to 134.6 per 100,000 in 1996.

Stricter clean indoor air laws have been implemented to limit public exposure to secondhand smoke. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws restricting smoking in state government worksites, and 20 states and the District of Columbia limit smoking in private worksites. Airlines have banned smoking onboard aircrafts, and many people, including 12.5 percent of adult smokers with children, do not allow smoking in the home.

The effects of tobacco use in the United States still are a major public health concern today. During the 1990s, smoking prevalence among adults remained virtually unchanged with approximately a quarter of adults aged 18 years and older currently smoking in the United States. This falls short of the national public health goal to reduce adult smoking to 15 percent or below by the year 2000. Past-month smoking prevalence among high school seniors decreased between the late 1970s and the mid-1980s; however, smoking increased dramatically from 1991 (28.3 percent) to 1997 (36.5 percent). Progress is still needed to protect citizens, particularly young people, from secondhand smoke at home and at work---nearly 88 percent of nonsmokers, adults and children, have detectable levels of serum cotinine (a nicotine metabolite) in their blood.

The second article, "Cigarette Smoking Among Adults—United States, 1997," shows no reduction in adult smoking prevalence. The study found that an estimated 48 million (24.7 percent) adults aged 18 years and older currently smoke in the United States—27.6 percent of men and 22.1 percent of women. The findings of this study and prevalence data from 1993 (25.0 percent), 1994 (25.5 percent) and 1995 (24.7 percent) show that adult smoking has remained unchanged in the 1990s and is falling short of the nation’s public health goal of reducing smoking to no more than 15 percent by the year 2000. Historically, smokers aged 25-44 years had the highest smoking prevalence; however, smokers aged 18-24 and 25-44 years were smoking at equal rates in 1997—28.7 percent and 28.6 percent, respectively.

Other study findings:

Current smoking prevalence among young adults aged 18-24 years was 25.8 percent in 1993, 24.8 percent in 1995, and 28.7 percent in 1997. Although the changes in smoking prevalence were not statistically significant for the years analyzed, the data suggest that smoking prevalence may be increasing among young adults. There was no significant change in smoking among adults aged 25-44 years for the same period—29.2 percent in 1993 and 28.6 percent in 1995 and 1997.

Smoking prevalence was higher among American Indians/Alaska Natives (34.1 percent), African Americans (26.7 percent), and whites (25.3 percent) than among Hispanics (20.4 percent) and Asian/Pacific Islanders (16.9 percent). Smoking prevalence among the various racial/ethnic populations remained fairly stable in recent years.

An estimated 44 million adults (25.1 million men and 19.2 million women) were former smokers, which remains unchanged from 1995. Of current everyday adult smokers in 1997, about 16 million quit smoking for at least one day during the year.

One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Acrobat Reader (a free application) to view and print these documents.

* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.