The Great American Smokeout 2011

The Great American Smokeout (GASO) encourages smokers to quit smoking and live a healthier life.

Background of This Event

The Great American Smokeout (GASO), sponsored by the American Cancer Society, is an annual event taking place on the third Thursday of November that encourages smokers to use the date of the observance to make their plan to quit smoking for good or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day.

During GASO, local, state and national organizations work to increase community awareness of the dangers of smoking as well as to emphasize the rights of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free air in public places. GASO provides an opportunity for:

• Tobacco users to make a quit attempt, with permanent cessation adding years to their lives
• Friends, family, and health care professionals to encourage and support quit attempts
• Media organizations to run stories encouraging quitting
• Governmental and nongovernmental organizations to redouble their efforts to make our environment more conducive to quitting than continuing to use tobacco

Importance of Quitting

Quitting smoking is the single best way smokers can protect their health, and quitting at any age has benefits. Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease, disability and premature death in the United States, yet more than 45 million Americans still smoke. Cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke result in more than 443,000 deaths a year. For every person who dies from smoking, another 20 people are living with a smoking-related disease. Smoking costs the United States about $96 billion each year in medical expenses and $97 billion in lost productivity due to premature death.

Challenges of Quitting

Most smokers establish a regular pattern of smoking and find quitting difficult because they are addicted to nicotine. Multiple attempts may be required. However, proven cessation services and treatments can help smokers ease withdrawal symptoms and succeed in quitting. The most important thing nonsmokers can do to help smokers they know is to offer continued encouragement and support. The most important thing smokers can do is keep trying until they succeed. Almost 70% of smokers want to quit, more than 52% have attempted to quit each year, and over 6% have successfully quit. Most people quit without medication, but FDA-approved medications, in addition to counseling, can double or even triple the likelihood of quitting successfully.

Million Hearts

Earlier this year, the CDC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched Million Hearts, an initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years. About 130,000 cardiovascular disease deaths per year in the United States are attributable to smoking. And approximately 26 percent of heart attacks and 12-19% of strokes are attributable to smoking. More than two million heart attacks and strokes occur every year and treatment for these conditions and other vascular diseases account for approximately one of every six health care dollars.

The Million Hearts initiative seeks to empower Americans to make healthy choices, and improve clinical care by helping patients learn and follow their ABCS:

• Aspirin for people at risk
• Blood pressure control
• Cholesterol management
• Smoking cessation

For more information on Million Hearts, visit http://millionhearts.hhs.gov.

Resources to Help You Quit and Stay Quit

Quitting is hard, but you can increase your chances of success with help. Talk to your health care provider about your options. Individual, group, or telephone counseling can increase your likelihood of success by 20 to 70 percent. The combination of medication and counseling is more effective for smoking cessation than either medication or counseling alone. Effective treatments that can increase the chances of successful cessation include: brief clinical interventions (i.e., when a doctor takes 5 minutes or less); counseling (e.g., individual, group, or telephone counseling); and nicotine and non-nicotine containing medications.

For Support to Quit

Millions of smokers have successfully quit, and presently there are actually more former smokers than current smokers. For support in quitting, including free quit coaching, a free quit plan, free educational materials, and referrals to local resources, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669); TTY 1-800-332-8615.

Also, www.smokefree.gov or http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/how_to_quit/index.htm provides immediate assistance in the form of an online step-by-step cessation guide; instant messaging service; tools and publications that can be downloaded, printed, or ordered.

More Information

• MMWR: Quitting Smoking Among Adults – United States 2001 - 2010
• CDC Great American Smokeout 2011
• American Cancer Society GASO 2011