|
|
|
World
No
Tobacco Day 1997 MMWR Special Issue
The May 23, 1997, issue of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
contains a cover story, "World No-Tobacco DayMay 31, 1997"
( PDF 301K) and three
articles:
The first article, Cigar
Smoking Among Teenagers
United States, Massachusetts, and New York, 1996, represents the
first compilation of studies that report cigar use among young people. An estimated 6
million (26.7 percent) U.S. teenagers 14-19 years of
age
4.3 million males (37 percent)
and 1.7 million females (16
percent)
smoked at least one cigar within the past year.
Rates of cigar use did not vary significantly by region within the United States. A study
in Massachusetts found that 14.5 percent of students grade 9-12 had smoked at least one
cigar in the past month. A third survey found that more than 70 percent of 9th grade
students from two New York counties (Erie and Chautauqua) who used cigars in the past 30
days reported that they purchased their own cigars.
The study also found the following:
- In the United States and Massachusetts, approximately one out of four
students in grades 9-12 reported smoking at least one cigar within the past year in 1996.
- U.S. students in grades 9-12 who used other tobacco products (cigarettes,
smokeless tobacco) were also more likely to report smoking cigars. Nearly three-fourths of
male and one-third of female cigarette smokers reported smoking at least one cigar in the
past year.
- Nearly 40 percent of Massachusetts high school students in grades 9-12
reported smoking a cigar in their lifetime, 28.1 percent reported smoking a cigar within
the past year, and 14.5 percent in the past 30 days. Younger students showed similar
patterns of cigar
smoking
students in grades 7-8 (22.3 percent lifetime, 14.1 percent
past year, and 7.6 percent past 30 days) and students in grade 6 (10 percent lifetime, 5
percent past year, and 2 percent past 30 days).
- A majority of 9th grade students in the New York survey who
purchased either a cigar or cigarettes for their own use reported that they were
"rarely" or "never" asked about their age at point of purchase76.6
percent for cigars compared with 59 percent for cigarettes in Erie County and 71.7 percent
for cigars compared with 67.7 percent for cigarettes in Chautauqua County.
The second article, Illegal Sales of Cigarettes to
Minors
Mexico City, Mexico, 1997, is the first survey of illegal sales of
cigarettes to minors in Mexico. The study found that out of the 561 stores visited, 443
(79.0 percent) of the retailers sold cigarettes to minors.
The study also found the following:
- Older minors (14-15 years of age) were more likely than younger minors (10-11
years of age) to be able to purchase cigarettes (92.2 percent versus 66.0 percent,
respectively), and female minors were more likely than male minors to be able to do so
(84.0 percent versus 72.7 percent, respectively).
- Only four (0.7 percent) retailers asked the minor’s age; one (0.2
percent) asked for proof of age; and 30 (5.3 percent) asked for whom the cigarettes were
being purchased.
- Age-of-sale warning signs were displayed in 64 stores (11.8 percent) although
the presence of a warning sign was not associated with lower sales rates.
The third article, Smoking-Attributable Mortality
and Years of Potential Life
Lost
United States, 1984, estimates that more than
2.1 million persons in the United States died from cigarette
smoking
an average of
430,700 deaths per
year
from 1990 through 1994. If current smoking patterns continue, an
estimated 25 million U.S.
people who are alive today will die prematurely from
smoking-related illnesses, including an estimated 5 million persons aged 0-17 years of
age.
The study also found the following:
- Cigarette smoking has resulted in more than 10 million deaths since the first
Surgeon General’s report on Smoking and Health in 1964.
- Of the 2.1 million persons in the United States who died from cigarette
smoking in 1990-1994, a total of 906,600 of these deaths resulted from cardiovascular
diseases; 778,700 from neoplasms; 454,800 from nonmalignant respiratory diseases; 7,900
from diseases among infants; and 5,500 from smoking-related fires. Lung cancer accounted
for 616,800 deaths; ischemic heart disease (IHD) for 490,000 deaths; and chronic airway
obstruction for
270,100.
- The prevalence of smoking among U.S. adolescents has been increasing since
1992. If these smoking patterns continue into adulthood, the number of smoking
attributable deaths is expected to increase.
|
|
