December 21, 2001 |
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In Brief |
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Since the 1950’s, epidemiological studies have found an increased risk of
esophageal, lung, oral, and laryngeal cancer among cigar smokers.1 According to the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), 4.8 percent of
persons aged 12 or older (more than 10 million individuals) were current cigar users
(i.e., they smoked cigars in the past month). The 2000 NHSDA collected data on the
number of new cigar users each year, as well as on the current use of cigars. | ||||
Trends in New Cigar Use The annual number of new cigar users rose dramatically in the 1990s despite widespread tobacco prevention initiatives (Figure 1). From 1990 to 1998,2 the number of new cigar users increased by 208 percent, climbing from almost 2 million in 1990 to nearly 5 million in 1998. However, between 1998 and 1999, the number of persons who took up cigar smoking declined nearly 22 percent. In 1999, over 400,000 fewer youths aged 12 to 17 and 400,000 fewer young adults aged 18 to 25 were new cigar smokers than in 1998.
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Prevalence of Cigar Use Young adults aged 18 to 25 (10.4 percent) were more likely to report past month cigar use compared with youths aged 12 to 17 (4.5 percent) and adults aged 26 or older (3.9 percent) (Figure 2). Among young adults, 18 to 20 year olds (12.9 percent) were significantly more likely to have smoked cigars in the past month than those aged 21 to 25 (8.7 percent). Males (8.4 percent) were more likely than females (1.5 percent) to report past month cigar use (Figure 3). This gender difference was less pronounced for 12 to 17 year olds (6.4 percent males, 2.5 percent females) than it was for those aged 18 to 25 (16.5 percent males, 4.4 percent females) or those aged 26 or older (7.3 percent males, 0.8 percent females). The rate of past month cigar use was higher among whites (5.0 percent) and blacks (5.1 percent) than it was for Hispanics (3.9 percent) (Figure 4). Among youths aged 12 to 17, the rate was higher for whites (5.3 percent) than for blacks (2.8 percent) and Hispanics (3.1 percent). For young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate was higher for blacks (13.1 percent) than it was for whites (11.3 percent) and Hispanics (6.0 percent).
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Cigarette, Smokeless Tobacco, and Pipe Use Among Current Cigar Users According to the NHSDA, current cigar users were more likely to smoke cigarettes (56.1 percent) than use smokeless tobacco (11.9 percent) or smoke pipes (5.6 percent) (Figure 5). Younger cigar users were more likely to use other tobacco products than older cigar users. For example, current cigar users aged 12 to 17 (71.8 percent) and aged 18 to 25 (71.4 percent) were more likely than those aged 26 or older (46.7 percent) to smoke cigarettes during the past month. Current cigar users aged 12 to 17 (15.2 percent) and aged 18 to 25 (13.9 percent) were also more likely than those aged 26 or older (10.4 percent) to use smokeless tobacco during the past month. Current cigar users aged 12 to 17 (8.4 percent) were more likely than those aged 18 to 25 (6.1 percent) or those aged 26 or older (4.9 percent) to smoke pipes during the past month. |
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End Notes 1 Baker, F., Ainsworth, S.R., Dye, J.T., Crammer, C., Thun, M.J., Hoffman, D., Repace, J.L., Henningfield, J.E., Slade, J., Pinney, J., Shanks, T., Burns, D.M., Connolly, G.N., & Shopland, D.R. (2000). Health risks associated with cigar smoking. Journal of the American Medical Association, 284, 735-740. 2 Because estimates of new use are based on retrospective reports, the most recent year available for 2000 data is 1999.
Figure Notes Source (all figures): SAMHSA 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA).
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This page was last updated on December 31, 2008. |
