Smoking: do you really know the risk?
Cigarette smoking prevalence among adults over 18 years of age has decreased to 42.4% since 1965 (1) but currently, it is still at a level that public health agencies are not happy with (1) The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has looked at the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data for 2004 2010 to describe cigarette smoking prevalence among working adults by industry and occupation (1) Researchers found a 19.6% prevalence of age adjusted cigarette smoking prevalence among working adults, with the highest rates among those with less than a high school education (28.4% with no health insurance (28.6% living below the federal poverty level (27.7% and those belonging to the 18 24 year age group (23.8% (1) During the years 2000 2004, cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke in the US resulted in about 443,000 premature deaths, $97 billion in productivity losses, and $96 billion in health care costs annually (1) Smoking is the most common addiction among adolescents and young adults (2, 3) In almost 90% of adults, it is reported that the first use of tobacco occurred during one's adolescence. Although the use of tobacco has declined over the last decades, it remains one of the major health and social challenges today. In fact, its use is still very common: among high school students, almost one third of females and one half of males report using more than one tobacco product in the last 30 days. In the US alone, almost 400,000 young people become regular smokers every year (2, 3)
International journal of adolescent medicine and health