Resource Center: epidemiology

About 1 out of every 5 women in America smokes, and women are starting to smoke at younger and younger ages. Did you know that lung cancer kills more women every year than breast cancer? More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. (From their website)

* According to three study findings, nearly 70% of American smokers (36 million) make at least one outpatient visit each year, but health care providers gave smoking cessation advice to only 40% to 52% of the smokers. * One recent study reported that only 15% of smokers who saw a physician in the past year were offered assistance with quitting, and only 3% were given a follow-up appointment to address the problem. * In 1992, about half of all adult U.S. smokers visited a dentist, but only 25% were advised to quit by their dentist. * Effective strategies for treating tobacco use include brief advice by medical providers, counseling, and pharmacotherapy. * Less intensive interventions, as simple as physicians advising their patients to quit smoking, can produce cessation rates of 5% to 10% per year. More intensive interventions, combining behavioral counseling and pharmacologic treatment, can produce 20% to 25% quit rates in one year. (From their website)

Monograph 2: Smokeless Tobacco or Health: An International Perspective covers Epidemiology, Clinical and Pathological Effects, Carcinogenesis, Nicotine Effects and Addiction, Prevention, Cessation, and Policy.

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