Facts and Feelings about Disease Prevention and Health Promotion - Smoking

The proportion of adults who smoke cigarettes has declined consistently, from nearly 25 percent in a 1997 survey to 21.6 percent from January through June 2003. (See Figure 10.14.) In 2003 more men than women identified themselves as former smokers (24 percent of men and 19.4 percent of women) and more women reported that they had never smoked. In every age group, more men than women identified themselves as current smokers. For both men and women, the prevalence of current smoking declined with advancing age. (See Figure 10.15 and Figure 10.16.) White men and women were more likely to smoke than black or Hispanic men and women. (See Figure 10.17.)

Although the trend in smoking has been consistently downward, it will have to drop sharply—more than 10 percent from the estimated 21.6 percent reported during January through June 2003—during the coming years to meet the objective of just 12 percent set forth in Healthy FIGURE 10.12
Prevalence of obesity among adults aged 20 years and over, by age group and sex, January–June 2003 People 2010. A study conducted by the CDC in 2000 found that although 70 percent of smokers said they wanted to quit, success rates for quitting varied depending on the race, ethnicity, and education level of smokers. Among smokers who had quit, the highest success rates were among whites (51 percent), whereas 45 percent of Asian-Americans, 43 percent of Latinos, and 37 percent of blacks stopped smoking. Nearly 75 percent of smokers who had quit held graduate degrees and 64 percent were college graduates, whereas less than half of those who had not completed high school were able to quit smoking. The success rate for quitting also increased with income.