Adult Tobacco Smoking Rate in the United States has Stabilized

November 9, 2007 - Adult Tobacco Smoking Rate in the United States has Stabilized, although Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States, resulting in approximately 438,000 deaths annually . Center for Disease Control (CDC) analyzed data from the 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The report summarized the results of that analysis, which indicated that in 2006, approximately 20.8% (45.3 million) of U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers (80.1% (36.3 million) smoked every day, and 19.9% (9.0 million) smoked some days). This prevalence had not changed significantly since 2004, suggesting a stall in the previous 7-year (1997--2004) decline in cigarette smoking among adults in the United States. One reason for this leveling off may be a result of funding for state control and prevention programs decreased about 20% from 2002 to 2006 while tobacco industry marketing spending nearly doubled from about $7 billion to $13 billion between 1998 and 2005. One of the U.S. national health objectives for 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults to < href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5644a2.htm#top">Cigarette Smoking Among Adults --- United States, 2006 MMWR Weekly, November 9, 2007 / 56(44);1157-1161. Click on image to enlarge..