Smoking measures the percentage of the population over age 18 who smoke tobacco products regularly. It is defined as the percentage of adults who self-report smoking at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and who currently smoke every day or some days. The ranks are based on the preceding year’s data from CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS telephone survey has traditionally been completed by people using landlines. During the fielding of the 2011 BRFSS, the methodology was updated to include cellular telephones due to the large number of households that contain only cellular telephones and no landline telephones. Because of these changes, estimates of smoking prevalence from the 2012 Edition onward cannot be compared to estimates from previous years. Shifts in estimates from previous years may be the result of the new methods, rather than measurable changes in the percentages.

Smoking has a very well documented adverse impact on overall health. It is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. Tobacco use is estimated to be responsible for about 1 in 5 deaths or about 443,000 deaths per year.[1] Smoking damages nearly every organ in the body and causes many diseases, including respiratory disease, heart disease, stroke, cancer, preterm birth, low birthweight, and premature death.[2] Between the years 2001 and 2004, estimated annual smoking attributable health care costs exceeded $95 billion.[3] Not only are smokers themselves at increased risk for negative health consequences, so are those who are exposed to secondhand smoke, as it has serious effects on the population causing respiratory infections in children and heart disease and lung cancer in adults.[3]

Smoking is a lifestyle behavior that an individual can directly influence with support from the community and, as required, clinical intervention. Cessation, even in a longtime smoker, can have profound benefits on current health status as well as long term outcomes.[4] Smokers who quit before 35 years of age reduce their risk of premature death to almost the same level as non-smokers.[5] A wide variety of intervention types have been found to be effective in leading to smoking cessation at the individual and community levels.[6] Many policy efforts have been tried over the past several decades including excise taxes and smoking bans. Both of these policy approaches have been shown to be tremendously effective in leading to cessation, preventing non-smokers from starting, and decreasing smoking related health problems.[7],[8] Due to the widespread negative health effects of secondhand smoke, reducing the prevalence of smoking and creating smoke-free environments can have a profound impact on the entire community.[9] For more information and resources to help you quit, see www.smokefree.gov/.