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Indicator Short Name: Current smoking

Indicator Long Name: Percentage of older adults who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their entire life and still smoke every day or some days

Indicator Description:

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States.¹

For every person who dies from a smoking-related disease, 20 more suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking: lung and other cancers, coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other respiratory illnesses.²

Seventy percent of current adult smokers report that they want to quit completely.³

Question:

Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes in your entire life? Do you now smoke cigarettes every day, some days, or not at all?

A. Yes

b. No

c. DK/not sure

d. Refused

Now Smoke:

a. Every day

b. Some days

c. Not at all

d. DK/not sure

e. Refused

Reference:

1. Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults aged >18 Years, United States, 2005-2010. Vital Signs 2011; 60(35).

2. Fiore MC, Jaen CR, Baker TB, et al. Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update. Clinical Practice Guideline. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2008.

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2004. www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2004/index.htm. Accessed November 2, 2015.