Smoking continues to fall among US teens
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《英国医生杂志》
The percentage of US teenagers who smoke fell to 22% in 2003—the lowest level since records began in 1991, a new survey shows (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2004;53:499-502). Experts are attributing the findings to the rising cost of cigarettes.
At about $4 (?.20; �3.30) for a pack of cigarettes, teenagers would rather spend their money on new clothes, a movie, or eating out. High school students are also becoming more conscientious about their health and less intrigued by lighting up, finds the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
The government claims that its new antismoking campaigns and higher cigarette taxes are responsible for the fall in the number of young smokers.
The figure is down from more than 36% in 1997 and is the lowest level since the CDC began keeping records of smoking trends among young people in 1991. For the first time in more than two decades the percentage of adults who smoke is higher than the percentage of high school smokers.
The study also found that fewer students are trying cigarettes. About 58% of students in 2003 said they had tried smoking, down from 70% in 1999.
Teenagers classified as frequent smokers—those who smoked on at least 20 days of the 30 days preceding the survey—fell to 9.7% in 2003. That is down from 16.8% in 1999 and 16.7% in 1997.
"Since 1997 the retail price of cigarettes has increased by 90%," said Dr Terry Pechacekis, director of the CDC抯 Office of Smoking and Health.
However, many of the programmes that have helped teenagers steer clear of cigarettes in the past few years are being cut back. "It抯 a matter of budget priorities," Dr Pechacekis said, "and parents need to say that preventing smoking in their youth is really important to them and that they really want to see these programmes funded."
If prevention efforts—from county education campaigns to less conventional methods such as the drug abuse resistance education (DARE) programme—are sustained and teenage smoking continues to fall, the United States could achieve a national health goal of cutting smoking among high school students to 16% or less by 2010, says the report.
A third of the world抯 adult population are smokers: 47% of these are men and 7% are women. And tobacco causes 3.5 million deaths a year, equivalent to about 10 000 deaths a day. In two decades the annual number of deaths from tobacco use is predicted to rise to 10 million.(New York Scott Gottlieb)
At about $4 (?.20; �3.30) for a pack of cigarettes, teenagers would rather spend their money on new clothes, a movie, or eating out. High school students are also becoming more conscientious about their health and less intrigued by lighting up, finds the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
The government claims that its new antismoking campaigns and higher cigarette taxes are responsible for the fall in the number of young smokers.
The figure is down from more than 36% in 1997 and is the lowest level since the CDC began keeping records of smoking trends among young people in 1991. For the first time in more than two decades the percentage of adults who smoke is higher than the percentage of high school smokers.
The study also found that fewer students are trying cigarettes. About 58% of students in 2003 said they had tried smoking, down from 70% in 1999.
Teenagers classified as frequent smokers—those who smoked on at least 20 days of the 30 days preceding the survey—fell to 9.7% in 2003. That is down from 16.8% in 1999 and 16.7% in 1997.
"Since 1997 the retail price of cigarettes has increased by 90%," said Dr Terry Pechacekis, director of the CDC抯 Office of Smoking and Health.
However, many of the programmes that have helped teenagers steer clear of cigarettes in the past few years are being cut back. "It抯 a matter of budget priorities," Dr Pechacekis said, "and parents need to say that preventing smoking in their youth is really important to them and that they really want to see these programmes funded."
If prevention efforts—from county education campaigns to less conventional methods such as the drug abuse resistance education (DARE) programme—are sustained and teenage smoking continues to fall, the United States could achieve a national health goal of cutting smoking among high school students to 16% or less by 2010, says the report.
A third of the world抯 adult population are smokers: 47% of these are men and 7% are women. And tobacco causes 3.5 million deaths a year, equivalent to about 10 000 deaths a day. In two decades the annual number of deaths from tobacco use is predicted to rise to 10 million.(New York Scott Gottlieb)