Adult tobacco use summary [Jan. 2012]

Tobacco use costs Georgia more than $5 billion every year.1

DEATHS1
About 10,300 Georgia adult age 35 and older die every year from tobacco-related illnesses that is one out of every six deaths among this adult population.
More adult males 35 years and older (6,400) than adult females 35 years and older (3,900) die from tobaccorelated illnesses every year. Of the smoking attributable deaths among adult age 35 and older; 4,400 (43%) deaths were due to cancer, 3,200 (30%) deaths were due to cardiovascular disease, 2,700 (27%) deaths were due to respiratory disease (Figure1). Adult smokers lose an average of 16 years of life compared to adult non-smokers.

Former Smokers
Among former adult smokers, majority (60%; 1.03 million) had quit smoking cigarette in the past 10 or more years compared to those that had quit within the past 10 years (14%; 224,000), or within the past 5 years (18%; 300,000), or within the past 1 year (8%; 130,000) (Figure 5). More males (28%; 990,000) are former smokers than females (19%; 700,000). More adults aged 65+ are former smokers (43%) than 55-64yrs (33%), 45-54 (24%), 25-44 (15%), and 18-24 (8%).
Figure 1: Average annual smoking-attributable deaths among adults ages 35 and older, Georgia, 2003-2007

SMOKING BEHAVIOR2
In 2010, approximately 1.3 million (18%) adult Georgia residents smoked cigarettes and 1.7 million (23%) were former smokers.

Current Smokers
More adult males (20%; 710,000) than adult females (15%; 580,000) smoke cigarettes. Georgia's current overall adult smoking prevalence (17.6 %) matches the national smoking prevalence (Figure 2). Counties in the Northwest (1-1), North central (5-2), South (8-1), Southeast (9-2), and Coastal (9-1) Health Districts of the state have the highest adult smoking prevalence (Figure 3). Non-Hispanic (NH) White adults (19%; 930,000) are more likely to smoke than non-Hispanic Black (16%; 260,000) and Hispanic (16%; 51,000) adults in Georgia.
Smoking prevalence is two times as high among adults without health insurance (36%; 410,000) than adults with health insurance (15%; 760,000).
Cigarette smoking is four times more common among adults without high school education (32%; 230,000) than among adults with college education (8%; 224,000) (Figure 4).
Smoking prevalence is highest among adults with annual household income of less than $15K (40%; 220,000) and $15K-$25K (29%; 303,000). Smoking prevalence is highest among adult Georgians aged 25-34 (23%; 290,000), 35-44 (18%; 400,000) and 45-54 (18%; 260,000).

Percent

Figure 2:Trends in current adult smoking, Georgia vs US, 2000-2010

60

50

40

Georgia

United States

30

20

10

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Year

Figure 3: Percent of Adults Who Smoke Cigarettes by Public Health District, Georgia, 2006-2009

SMOKELESS TOBACCO USE2
About 280,000 adults (representing 4% of Georgia adults), use smokeless tobacco.
More7males (7%; 233,000) than females (1%; 47,000) use
smokeless tobacco. Use of smokeless tobacco is higher among adults without a college education (5%; 220,000) than among adults with college education (2.1%; 60,000) (Figure 6).
SMOKING CESSATION2
Approximately 58% (760,000) of current adult smokers made a quit attempt in the past year. More females (65%) than males (54%) made a quit attempt in the past year. More individuals with health insurance (62%) than those without health insurance (54%) made a quit attempt in the past year. More Non-Hispanic Blacks (70%) made a quit attempt in the past year compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (57%) and Hispanics (41%) (Figure 7).

Percent

Percent

Figure 4: Percent of Adult Current Smokers, by Education, Georgia, 2010

60

50

40

32%

30

20

10

0 <HS

26% HS Grad

19% 8%
Some College College Graduate

Figure 5: Length of Time Since Quit Smoking, Former smokers, Georgia, 2010
60 51%
40

20 8%
0 Past 1 yr

18% 14%

Past 5 yrs

Past 10yrs 10 or more yrs

FINANCIAL IMPACT1
Smoking results in the loss of $1.8 billion in healthcare costs every year among Georgia adults aged 18 years and older. Smoking results in $3.4 billion in lost productivity costs every year among Georgia adults aged 35 years and older.
Definitions 1. Adults are defined as civilian persons aged 18 years
and older unless otherwise stated. 2. Cigarette smokers are defined as those who have
smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and are currently smoking. 3. Former smokers are defined as those who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and are not currently smoking. 4. A quit attempt is defined as having stopped smoking for one day or longer during the past 12 months in an effort to quit smoking.

Percent

Percent

Figure 6: Percent of Adults who use Smokeless Tobacco, by Level of Education, Georgia, 2010

60

50

40

30

20

10

6%

0 <HS

5% HS Grad

4%

2%

Some College College Graduate

Figure 7: Percent of Current Smokers who made a Quit Attempt in Previous Year, by Race/Ethnicty, Georgia 2010

100
80 57%
60
40
20
0 White Nonhispanic

70%
Black Nonhispanic

41% Hispanics

66% Others

* Percentages shown in graphs do not add up to 100% because

Data sources

analysis of nonsmokers is not shown.

1. Georgia Vital Statistics, 2003-2007; CDC SAMMEC web application (http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/sammec/

2. 2010 Georgia Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Data.

More data on tobacco use in Georgia can be found at http://health.state.ga.us/publications/datasummaries.asp Visit http://www.health.state.ga.us/epi/cdiee/tobaccouse.asp for more information about the Georgia Tobacco Use Prevention Program.