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Great American Smokeout Day
MMWR Highlights
November 5, 1999 / Vol. 48 / No. 43
- On Thursday, November 18, 1999, the American Cancer Society (ACS) will
sponsor its annual "Great American Smokeout" (GASO) to encourage
approximately 52 million adult and adolescent smokers in the United States
to quit smoking for at least one day.
- About 70 percent (33.2 million) adults want to quit smoking completely,
but because of the addictive nature of nicotine many smokers find it
difficult to quit.
- Each year, an estimated 1.2 million (2.5 percent) adult smokers
successfully quit smoking permanently.
- Nearly three-quarters (72.9 percent) of adolescent smokers who have ever
smoked cigarettes daily have attempted to quit; however, among those, the
vast majority (86.5 percent) continue to smoke, most likely because of the
addictive nature of nicotine.
- Several methods are available that can help smokers quit. There are
nicotine replacement products available by prescription (inhaler and nasal
spray) and over-the-counter -- the gum and the patch -- to help smokers
quit. Buproprion has also proven to have a positive effect for smokers
wanting to quit. These products have nearly doubled smokers ability to
successfully quit.
- Smokers who quit before age 50 have half the risk of dying in the next 15
years compared with those who continue to smoke.
- Benefits of cessation include risk reduction for other major diseases
including coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease. The excess risk
of heart disease caused by smoking is reduced by half after one year of
quitting.
- After 10 years, the risk of lung cancer for exsmokers drops to 30-50
percent that of continuing smokers.
- In 5 to 15 years, the risk of stroke for exsmokers returns to the level of
those who have never smoked.
- Former smokers are also less likely to die of chronic lung disease, such
as emphysema, than those who continue to smoke.
- Former smokers have better health status than current smokers--fewer days
of illness, fewer health complaints, better health status, and reduced rates
of bronchitis and pneumonia.
* 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. |
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