Environmental Public Health Tracking: Tobacco Data
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the U.S. The number of people who smoke cigarettes is declining, but about 34 million American adults still smoke. We track smoking because it not only impacts the health of individuals, but also negatively affects the environment we all share, and therefore impacts public health.
These data have particular importance to health equity, because the rate of cigarette smoking is disproportionately high among certain groups. These include men, adults ages 25-64, American Indians, Alaska Natives, multiracial people, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.
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Frequently asked questions
Cigarette smoking negatively affects the environment and the health of people who smoke. Cigarette smoke causes environmental pollution by releasing toxic air pollutants into the air. Cigarette butts also litter the environment. The toxic chemicals in cigarette butt residues seep into soils and waterways, causing soil and water pollution.
Carbon dioxide, methane, and many other chemicals are found in second-hand smoke, which causes air pollution and poses a health risk to individuals around smokers. Some of the chemicals in secondhand smoke can cause cancer.
The Tracking data allow public health professionals to monitor trends over time. These data may also help with program planning, policy, and evaluation efforts.
Tracking cigarette smoking prevalence can help public health professionals identify:
- Cigarette smoking changes over time
- Geographic differences in prevalence
- Populations in need of targeted education and interventions
The data source for smoking prevalence is the Wisconsin Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS).
Cigarette smoking prevalence, including current smokers, former smokers, and never smokers.
- The data come from the Wisconsin Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS), which is part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a telephone survey of adults coordinated by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
- “Current smoker” is defined as adults (18+) who have smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their lifetime and who currently report smoking some days or every day in the last thirty days.
- “Former smoker” is defined as adults (18+) who have smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their lifetime regardless of whether or not they currently smoke or have quit smoking in the last thirty days.
- “Never smoker” is defined as a person who has never smoked cigarettes.
- Other combustible tobacco products such as cigars, cigarillos, and pipes are not included in these measures.
- Data are suppressed if the number of respondents in a geographical region was too small to calculate a reliable rate.
Tobacco data details
Smoking prevalence
These data come from the Wisconsin Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS), which is part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a telephone survey of adults coordinated by the CDC.
These data are collected using a sampling of cell phone and landline calls to conduct interviews with more than 400,000 adults ages 18 and older every year since 2011. This questionnaire establishes individuals’ health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventative services.
Cigarette smoking status and frequency were self-reported by the individual. A “current smoker” is defined as an adult (18+) who has smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their lifetime and who smoked some days or every day in the last 30 days. A “former smoker” is defined as an adult (18+) who has smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their lifetime and who has not smoked cigarettes in the last 30 days. “Never smoker” is defined as a person who has never smoked cigarettes.
Other combustible tobacco products, such as cigars, cigarillos, and pipes are not included in these measures. These prevalence data are represented as a percent. To calculate the prevalence, the number of current smokers, former smokers, or never smokers is the numerator and is divided by the rest of the population in the county of interest (the denominator).
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