Cigarette use among high school students slowly declines

Cigarette use among high school students nationwide has slowed or leveled off since 2003 for all racial and gender groups, except black female students, according to a published study.

In analyzing the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey results between 1991 and 2009, the CDC said cigarette use has declined slowly since a peak in the late 1990s, but that decline was not enough to meet the national 2010 health objective of reducing cigarette use among high school students to 16% or less.

In 1991, 27.5% of students reported using cigarettes, and that rate rose to 36.4% in 1997. However, that rate decreased to 21.9% in 2003 and to 19.5% in 2009.

The percentage of students who have ever smoked a cigarette (70.4%) did not change between 1991 and 1999, but that percentage decreased to 58.4% in 2003 and to 46.3% in 2009.

CDC researchers said cigarette smoking rates reflect complex and interrelated individual, social and environment factors, and that more detailed data are needed to explain the rates of teenage smoking.

“Although four of five high school students don’t smoke, it’s discouraging to see that current smoking did not continue to decline more rapidly among youth,” Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, CDC director, said in a press release. “Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in this country, and nine out of 10 adults started smoking in their teens or earlier. The slow progress since 2003 tells us that much more needs to be done to reduce youth smoking.”

CDC researchers said strategies such as counter-advertising mass media campaigns, reduction of tobacco advertising, promotions, limited availability of tobacco products, tobacco-free environments, programs that promote changes in school norms and high tobacco prices have been effective in limiting smoking.

CDC. MMWR. 2010;59:797-801.

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