http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/org/cdc.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20081113/smoking-rate-is-declining-in-us http://tobacco.org/news/274501.html The percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes has fallen below 20% for the first time since at least the mid-1960s, according to a new report. The CDC says in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that the prevalence of smoking fell in 2007 to 19.8%, nearly a full percentage point from 20.8% in 2006. "This is good news," Matthew McKenna, MD, MPH, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, tells WebMD. "But deaths related to cigarette smoking are still increasing. Almost one in five adult Americans smoke, and many former smokers are succumbing to their habit again." Tom Glynn, PhD, director of International Cancer Control of the American Cancer Society, says the CDC report shows that major progress is being made in the government's war on smoking, but hard battles still loom. "This is the lowest level since the late 1920s, at least," Glynn tells WebMD. "We've gotten back to where we were more than 80 years ago." WebMD Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a4.htm http://tobacco.org/news/274478.html Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous group of slowly progressive diseases characterized by airflow obstruction that interferes with normal breathing (1). In 2005, approximately one in 20 deaths in the United States had COPD as the underlying cause. Smoking is estimated to be responsible for at least 75% of COPD deaths (2). Excess health-care expenditures are estimated at nearly $6,000 annually for every COPD patient in the United States (3). To update national estimates of deaths from COPD for the period 2000--2005 (the most recent years for which data are available), CDC analyzed data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). Results of that analysis indicated that an estimated 126,005 deaths of persons aged >25 years occurred in 2005 with COPD as the underlying cause, an increase of 8% from 116,494 deaths in 2000. Age-standardized COPD mortality rates remained fairly stable during the period overall but decreased among men and increased among women. To decrease the number and rate of COPD deaths, public health programs should continue efforts to reduce all personal exposure to 1) tobacco smoke, including passive smoke exposure; 2) occupational dusts and chemicals; and 3) other indoor and outdoor air pollutants linked to COPD (3). Once COPD is diagnosed, chronic disease management programs should work to prevent further deterioration in lung function and reduce COPD mortality (4). Centers for Disease Control mmwrq@cdc.gov (state, in 2005, age-standardized death rates from COPD for) Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/Script/DisplayPressRelease.php3?Display=1109 http://tobacco.org/news/274477.html Two new reports released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the adult smoking rate in the United States has declined to under 20 percent for the first time, but smoking rates are not declining fast enough to reduce tobacco's growing toll in lives and health care costs. These reports confirm that we know how to reduce tobacco use, but elected officials at all levels must resist complacency and step up the fight against the nation's number one cause of preventable death. It is especially critical that the incoming Administration and Congress provide long-missing national leadership by enacting legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products. The good news from the first CDC report is that the adult smoking rate declined to 19.8 percent in 2007 from 20.8 percent in 2006. This is the first statistically significant one-year decline in adult smoking since 2003, but it still leaves the nation far short of achieving the U.S. Surgeon General's national goal of reducing adult smoking to 12 percent or less by 2010. The bad news from the second CDC report is that smoking rates are not declining fast enough to reduce the devastating health and financial toll of smoking in the United States. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a47bc1cc-7486-4565-b4c5-bc648fbd5f5f http://tobacco.org/news/274454.html The number of U.S. adults who smoke has dropped below 20 per cent for the first time on record but cigarettes still kill almost half a million people a year, health officials said Thursday. About 19.8 per cent of U.S. adults - 43.4 million people - were smokers in 2007. That was a percentage point below the 2006 figure and followed three years of little progress, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report. Smoking and secondhand smoke kill 443,000 people annually from cancer, lung disease, heart disease and other causes, the CDC said. Half of all long-term smokers, especially those who start as teens, die prematurely, many in middle age. And smoking burns a large hole in the economy. Including direct health care expenditures ($96 billion) and productivity losses ($97 billion), the economic burden of smoking on the United States hit $193 billion per year, the CDC said. Reuters Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a2.htm http://tobacco.org/news/274445.html One of the national health objectives for 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults to <12% (objective 27.1a) (1). To assess progress toward this objective, each year CDC analyzes self-reported data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). This report summarizes findings for 2007, which indicated that approximately 19.8% of adults were current smokers in 2007, a decrease of 1.0 percentage point from 2006 (20.8%) (2). Cigarette smoking has declined during the past 40 years among all sociodemographic subpopulations of adults; however, the declines during the past decade have been smaller than in previous decades. The proportion of current everyday smokers who made a quit attempt during the preceding year decreased 7.2 percentage points from 1993 (47.0%) to 2007 (39.8%). During 1993--2007, young adults (aged 18--24 years) consistently had the highest prevalence of quitting for >1 day during the preceding year (59.3% in 1993 and 53.1% in 2007). Prevention of initiation and smoking cessation at all ages is beneficial in reducing morbidity and mortality. Clinicians should strongly advise smokers to quit and recommend they use effective cessation treatments (3). Health insurers, health insurance purchasers, and health systems should assist clinicians in making effective treatments available by including counseling and medications for smoking cessation as covered benefits and should support effective community interventions for cessation, including increased excise taxes, mass media campaigns, and smoke-free laws (3,4). . . . Tobacco use screening with a brief cessation intervention is one of the top three clinical preventive services that have been found to be cost-saving (10). Effective clinical cessation interventions include brief interventions by clinicians; individual, group, or telephone counseling; and the following pharmacologic therapies: Bupropion SR, Varenicline, and nicotine gum, inhaler, lozenge, nasal spray, or patch (3). Clinicians and health-care delivery systems need to consistently identify and document tobacco use status, treat every tobacco user seen in the health-care setting, and promote patients' use of quitlines (available countrywide through the toll-free access number 1-800 QUIT- NOW) (3). These effective clinical approaches should be part of a comprehensive tobacco-control program that includes increasing the real price of tobacco products, implementing smoke-free policies, and increasing health insurance coverage for effective cessation interventions; with wider implementation of these policies and programs, greater progress in reducing smoking prevalence among adults could be attained (4,5). References Centers for Disease Control mmwrq@cdc.gov Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620897 http://tobacco.org/news/274002.html Children who live with adult smokers are more likely to be underfed and undernourished, a new study finds. The same is true for adult members of smoking households, but children feel the impact the most, said study author Dr. Michael Weitzman, chairman of pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine. "We know that there are long-term consequences of food insecurity for children. They are more likely to do poorly in school, to have iron deficiency and anemia, and to have behavioral and social problems," Weitzman said. "Food insecurity" is a concept that was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1990s to study malnutrition in developed countries such as the United States. "It is a standardized scale measuring how many times a household cannot give children the food they want, how many meals they skip, how often they go to bed hungry," Weitzman said. HealthDay [HealthScout] Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-smokers23-2008oct23,0,4887679.story http://tobacco.org/news/272779.html A federal health panel for the first time has singled out smokers for vaccination because of their high risk of infection from a pneumonia-causing bacterium. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already recommends the pneumococcal vaccine for children, adults over 65 and those with chronic illnesses and weakened immune systems. The panel's new recommendation, proposed Wednesday and expected to be formally adopted by the CDC, would expand the group to smokers ages 19 to 64. About one-fifth of U.S. adults smoke cigarettes, according to CDC spokesman Curtis Allen. Studies consistently find that smokers account for approximately half of otherwise healthy adults with invasive pneumococcal disease, Allen said. "The risk of getting pneumococcal pneumonia among smokers is substantially greater than among nonsmokers, so it makes sense to recommend that smokers get the vaccine," said Dr. Norman H. Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Assn. "But that in no way protects you from all of the terrible things that smoking will do." Los Angeles Times mary.engel@latimes.com (Mary Engel) Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/acip/downloads/mtg-slides-jun08/04-2-pneu.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/272777.html Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) May 25, 2008 ? Outline •Current PPV23 recommendations •Asthma prevalence & definition •New risk factor information •Asthma, cigarette smoking •Workgroup considerations & proposed recommendation •Vote . . . ? Objective •Review new information regarding the association of asthma and smoking with increased risk for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) •Review considerations related to expanding PPV23 target groups to include persons aged 18-64 years who have asthma or who are cigarette smokers Centers for Disease Control Sun, 25 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20081023005699&newsLang=en http://tobacco.org/news/272776.html The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously yesterday to recommend that adults ages 19 to 64 with asthma receive pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), known as PNEUMOVAX® 23 (Pneumococcal Vaccine Polyvalent). Merck & Co., Inc. is the sole supplier of PNEUMOVAX 23 in the United States. The ACIP based this recommendation on study data that showed an increased risk of pneumococcal disease among people with asthma. Pneumococcal diseases are caused by common bacteria and can lead to potentially serious bacterial infections of the lungs (pneumonia), lining of the brain (meningitis) and blood (bacteremia). The ACIP also voted to recommend that people aged 19 through 64 years who smoke cigarettes should receive PPSV23 as well as smoking-cessation counseling. This recommendation is the first time the ACIP has recommended a vaccine specifically for people who smoke. The ACIP stated that people at increased risk for invasive pneumococcal disease include those who smoke cigarettes. Business Wire Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=a0o.jJyblwXg&refer=home http://tobacco.org/news/272775.html Cigarette smokers should be vaccinated against pneumonia, a U.S. panel recommended today, the first time a shot has been urged for all adults who smoke. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, meeting in Atlanta, voted to expand its recommended use of the pneumonia shot to all smokers ages 19 to 64. Smoking increases risk of lung infections that the vaccine prevents. The immunization panel's advice, likely to be adopted by the CDC and included in the government's routine vaccination guidelines, is the first to target all of the estimated 45 million American adults who smoke, said Curtis Allen, a CDC spokesman, in an interview. Existing guidelines recommend vaccinations for smokers already exposed to smoking-related illness, he said. The vaccine protects against bacteria that can cause pneumonia, meningitis and other fatal infections. ``There is data of an increased risk of pneumococcal disease, similar to other high-risk conditions, such as asthma,'' said Michael Marcy, chairman of the committee's pneumococcal working group, in a presentation before today's vote. Bloomberg News Amarcus8@bloomberg.net (Aliza Marcus) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5708a1.htm http://tobacco.org/news/270722.html This report provides age-adjusted cancer incidence rates by demographic and geographic characteristics, percentage distributions for tumor characteristics, and trends in cancer incidence by sex. Results: Approximately 2.4 million cases of tobacco-related cancer were diagnosed during 1999--2004. Age-adjusted incidence rates ranged from 4.0 per 100,000 persons (for AML) to 69.4 (for lung and bronchial cancer). High rates occurred among men, black and non-Hispanic populations, and older adults. Higher incidence rates of lung and laryngeal cancer occurred in the South compared with other regions, particularly the West, consistent with high smoking patterns in the South. Interpretation: The high rates of tobacco-related cancer observed among men, blacks, non-Hispanics, and older adults reflect overall demographic patterns of cancer incidence in the United States and reflect patterns of tobacco use. Public Health Action: The findings in this report emphasize the need for ongoing surveillance and reporting to monitor cancer incidence trends, identify populations at greatest risk for developing cancer related to tobacco use, and evaluate the effectiveness of targeted tobacco control programs and policies. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report sstewart2@cdc.gov Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080808.htm http://tobacco.org/news/269781.html Home fire deaths are higher in states that have a greater percentage of smokers, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published this month in the journal Injury Prevention. If smoking at home is reduced or stopped, fewer residential fire deaths may result, the study said. Smoking is the leading cause of home fire deaths and accounts for approximately one quarter of the 3,000 home fire deaths in the United States each year. Quitting smoking, as well as following fire safety recommendations related to smoking, can help reduce the risk of cigarette-related home fire deaths. For free telephone-based counseling from anywhere in the United States, smokers can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a national number that connects people to their state-based quit line. This study is the first to use national data to look at the percentage of current smokers and home fire deaths in the District of Columbia and all U.S. states except Hawaii. Nationally, an estimated 21 percent of adults smoked in 2004, with state averages ranging from 11 percent (Utah) to 28 percent (Kentucky). In that year, an estimated 2,804 individuals died in home fires, or nearly one death per 100,000 people in the United States. Centers for Disease Control Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5727a3.htm http://tobacco.org/news/268689.html In the United States, exposure to SHS declined approximately 70% from the late 1980s through 2002, most likely reflecting widespread implementation of laws and policies prohibiting smoking in indoor workplaces and public places during this period (1,4). Although the major sources of SHS exposure for nonsmoking adults are the home and workplace, the primary source of SHS exposure for children is the home (1); therefore, eliminating smoking in workplaces and public places is less likely to reduce children's exposure to SHS. This report examines changes in the prevalence of self-reported SHS exposure at home and changes in any exposure, as measured by serum cotinine (a biologic indicator of SHS exposure), in nonsmoking children, adolescents, and adults. The analysis was conducted using data from the 1988--1994 and 1999--2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). The results indicated that self-reported SHS exposure at home and SHS exposure as measured by serum cotinine declined significantly (i.e., by 51.2% and 44.7%, respectively) in the U.S. population from 1988--1994 to 1999--2004; however, the decline was smaller for persons aged 4--11 years and 12--19 years. These results underscore the need to continue surveillance of SHS exposure and to focus on strategies to reduce children's SHS exposure. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report mmwrq@cdc.gov Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-10-2008/0004847181&EDATE= http://tobacco.org/news/268599.html A new report issued today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reinforces the need for Americans to be better protected against exposure to secondhand smoke. The report finds that 46% of Americans show biologic exposure to the deadly toxins found in cigarette smoke. Even more startling are the millions of children this statistic includes. In fact, recent studies indicate that 21 million or 35% of children are exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis. Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young people and is responsible for more than 100,000 lower respiratory tract infections and also is the cause of thousands of hospitalizations each year. PR Newswire Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080710/ap_on_he_me/med_secondhand_smoke_1 http://tobacco.org/news/268518.html early half of nonsmoking Americans are still breathing in cigarette fumes, but the percentage has declined dramatically since the early 1990s, according to a government study. A main reason for the decline in secondhand smoke is the growing number of laws and policies that ban smoking in workplaces, bars, restaurants and public places, said researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. AP Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT