Dateline: 05/23/02

While one in four U.S. high school students still smokes cigarettes, smoking rates among the age group have declined significantly since 1997, according to new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Highlights from CDC's report "Trends in Cigarette Smoking Among High School Students ---United States, 1991--2001", in which data was collected from students in grades 9-12 nationwide, include:

• 28.5 percent of high school students in the United States currently smoke, down from 36.4 percent in 1997
  
  

• Current frequent smoking, defined as smoking on at least 20 of the 30 days preceding the survey, decreased from 16.8 percent in 1999 to 13.8 percent in 2001.
  

• As in previous years, white and Hispanic students in 2001 were significantly more likely than black students to report current smoking.

"It is encouraging to see more and more teens making the right choice about smoking," said David Fleming, M.D., Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We hope this trend continues because it would mean fewer people suffering and dying from smoking-related illnesses."

According to the CDC, this report confirms other nationwide studies showing that the dramatic increase in smoking among high school students during the early to mid -1990s has reversed. CDC cites three factors that may have contributed to the decline in cigarette use:

• a 70 percent increase the retail price of cigarettes between December 1997 and May 2001;
• increases in school-based efforts to prevent tobacco use; and
• increases in youth exposure to both state and national mass media smoking prevention campaigns.

"While we have made some undeniable progress in reducing the teen smoking rates, now is not the time to rest upon our laurels" warned Rosemarie Henson, M.P.H, M.S.W., director of the CDC's smoking and health program. "Since cigarette prices may not continue to increase, a greater emphasis will need to be put on the school-based efforts and media campaigns that have proven effective as part of comprehensive tobacco control programs so that we can help the next generation of children to remain smoke-free."

The YRBS, which began in 1990 and has been conducted biennially since 1991, includes questions on a wide variety of health-related risk behaviors including smoking. YRBSS findings are available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/index.htm.

Complete Results of High School Smoking Survey
Survey Questionnaire

More information on CDC's tobacco control activities can be found at CDC's website at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/.