Smoking

Indicator Definition
Percentage of high school students who smoked cigarettes on one or more occasions during the past 30 days.

High school students who smoked cigarettes in past month in Colorado3

High school students who smoked cigarettes in past month by sex and race in Colorado4

Indicator Significance
By the time they are 12th graders, one quarter of adolescents have begun smoking cigarettes. Smoking can lead to decreased physical activity because of phlegm production and related respiratory problems. Lung development can also be retarded if cigarette smoking is started at an early age. Each day 6,000 children under age 18 start smoking, with 2,000 becoming regular smokers. If this trend continues, an estimated 6.4 million of today’s adolescents will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses. Most adolescents who have smoked 100 or more cigarettes report that they would like to quit but can’t. Studies also link cigarette smoking to mental health problems such as depression.¹

Colorado Specifics
Colorado ranks 18th among the 40 states that collect data on adolescent smoking. While nearly one in five adolescents smoked in the past 30 days, Colorado’s adolescent smoking rate has declined from 27 percent in 2001 to 19 percent in 2005. Hispanic adolescents are slightly less likely to smoke than white adolescents (16 percent vs. 19 percent).

Promising Initiatives
In Colorado
Colorado is one of three states that funds a tobacco prevention program reflecting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations on anti-smoking campaigns. Funding for this program comes from the state’s tobacco tax. Colorado spends $1.31 billion on smoking-caused health costs, and $25.5 million on smoking-prevention programs.

Elsewhere
In February 2007, the American Legacy Foundation received a matching grant from CDC for $3.6 million to expand its marketing of the truth® campaign into small communities in 18 states where exposure to anti-smoking messages has been minimal because of limited access to cable TV. The foundation’s program is designed to reach as many teens as possible to provide alternative messages about smoking to combat the $41 million-a-day pro-tobacco campaigns waged by large tobacco companies. The truth® campaign educates young people about the adverse health affects of smoking while revealing the tactics used by tobacco companies to recruit new smokers.²

High school students who smoked cigarettes in past month by sex and race in Colorado⁵

Text

1. “Adolescent smoking statistics,” American Lung Association
   
   “Smoking increases teen depression,” American Psychological Association
   
   
2. American Legacy Association
   

Charts

3. Source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2001 – 2005
   
4. Source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005
   
5. Source: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy Youth, 2005, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention