Smoking

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among U.S. women. (1) Both men and women who smoke face increased risks for other diseases as well (e.g., other cancers, chronic lung disease, heart disease, and stroke), and women experience unique smoking risks related to pregnancy, oral contraceptive use, menstrual function, and cervical cancer. (2) Yet 21.5 million women smoked in the U.S. in 2004. (3)

What percentage of women smoke?

The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing cigarette smoking among adults age 18 and older to 12 percent (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010 Objective 27-1a].

Data Source: Smoking (%), 2005

EXPLANATION:

This measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population who report ever smoking 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and reported smoking every day or some days.

SOURCE:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2005, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp. The national number is the median of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for race/ethnicity and age are three-year averages from 2003-2005 and are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population. Note that data for race/ethnicity reported in the Asian/Pacific Islander column reflect only Asian data for 49 states and the District of Columbia and reflect only Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander data for Hawaii. The 2004 data from Hawaii are not available as part of the 2004 BRFSS aggregate dataset. For Hawaii, data for race/ethnicity and age are reported as two-year averages from 2003 and 2005. National Center for Health Statistics, Health Data for All Ages: Health Care Access and Use, Health Status and Disability, and Health Conditions and Risk Factors Tables, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/health_data_for_all_ages.htm.

  State Overall Data State Grade State Rank
ALABAMA 20.4% F 36
ALASKA 21.9% F 41
ARIZONA 18.6% U 17
ARKANSAS 21.9% F 41
CALIFORNIA 11.3% S 2
COLORADO 18.0% U 14
CONNECTICUT 16.2% U 5
DELAWARE 19.0% F 22
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 17.5% U 12
FLORIDA 18.8% F 19
GEORGIA 19.3% F 28
HAWAII 14.9% S- 3
IDAHO 16.3% U 6
ILLINOIS 18.8% F 19
INDIANA 25.0% F 49
IOWA 19.1% F 23
KANSAS 16.8% U 9
KENTUCKY 26.9% F 51
LOUISIANA 20.6% F 38
MAINE 19.5% F 30
MARYLAND 18.3% U 16
MASSACHUSETTS 17.9% U 13
MICHIGAN 20.1% F 34
MINNESOTA 19.1% F 23
MISSISSIPPI 21.7% F 40
MISSOURI 22.1% F 43
MONTANA 19.2% F 25
NEBRASKA 19.2% F 25
NEVADA 20.9% F 39
NEW HAMPSHIRE 20.5% F 37
NEW JERSEY 16.7% U 8
NEW MEXICO 18.8% F 19
NEW YORK 18.1% U 15
NORTH CAROLINA 19.8% F 32
NORTH DAKOTA 18.7% U 18
OHIO 22.8% F 46
OKLAHOMA 23.8% F 47
OREGON 16.5% U 7
PENNSYLVANIA 22.4% F 45
RHODE ISLAND 20.1% F 34
SOUTH CAROLINA 20.0% F 33
SOUTH DAKOTA 19.2% F 25
TENNESSEE 24.4% F 48
TEXAS 16.9% U 10
UTAH 9.3% S 1
VERMONT 17.0% U 11
VIRGINIA 19.7% F 31
WASHINGTON 16.0% U 4
WEST VIRGINIA 26.0% F 50
WISCONSIN 19.4% F 29
WYOMING 22.2% F 44
 
S (Satisfactory): 2  
S- (Satisfactory Minus): 1  
U (Unsatisfactory): 15  
F (Fail): 33  

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chronic Disease Prevention, "Targeting Tobacco Use: The Nations’s Leading Cause of Preventable Death," available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/osh.htm. Jyoti D. Patel and others, "Lung Cancer in US Women: A Contemporary Epidemic," Journal of the American Medical Association, 291 (2004), 1763-1768, available at http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/291/14/1763.

2 Ibid.

3 American Lung Association, "Women and Smoking Factsheet," March 2006, available at http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=33572&printmode=1.