In Process - Cigarette-Related Deaths Rise for Women in 17 States and D.C..

January 24, 2009

Cigarette-Related Deaths Rise for Women in 17 States and D.C.
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By Peggy Peck, Executive Editor, MedPage Today
Published: January 23, 2009
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Click here to rate this report
ATLANTA, Jan. 23 -- Although mortality from cigarette smoking in the U.S. is down overall, it has increased among women in 17 states and the District of Columbia, according to CDC.

Overall, smoking-attributable deaths declined from 288 per 100,000 in 1996-1999 to 263.3 smoking attributable deaths in 2000-2004, the CDC's Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs system reported in the Jan. 23 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The data applied to cigarette smoking but not to deaths linked to cigar smoking, pipe smoking, and smokeless tobacco,

Smoking-related deaths among men declined in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Among women, smoking-related deaths per 100,000 increased in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

The states with lowest annual rates of smoking-attributable mortality in 2000-2004 were Utah, Hawaii, and Minnesota, and highest were Kentucky, West Virginia, and Nevada.

But Nevada was also the state that posted the biggest decline in the smoking-attributable death rate from 1996-1999 when the overall number of smoking-attributable deaths was 388 per 100,000 to 2000-2004. In the latter period, the number of smoking attributable deaths was 344 per 100,000.

Because deaths linked to cigar smoking, pipe smoking, and smokeless tobacco were not included, the numbers underestimate the number of tobacco-attributable deaths, said the MMWR editors.

Also the relative risk calculations "were based on deaths during 1982-1988 among birth cohorts who might have had different smoking histories than current or former smokers in 2000-2004," they wrote. The CDC, they said, is considering updating its relative risk formula for use in future reports.

Another limitation was that data are collected by telephone survey using landlines, which excluded households that use only wireless communication.



Additional source: Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report
Source reference:
Adhikari B et al "State-specific smoking-attributable mortality and years of potential life lost-United States 2000-2004" MMWR 2009; 58:29-33,