MMWR

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

1. (Box) Great American Smokeout – November 19, 2009

Press Contact: CDC
Office on Smoking and Health         
(770) 488-5493

No summary available.

2. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults and Trends in Smoking Cessation – United States, 2008

Press Contact: CDC
Office on Smoking and Health         
(770) 488-5493

To effectively combat the tobacco-use epidemic and reduce smoking rates nationwide, we must protect people from secondhand smoke, increase the price of tobacco, and support aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns that will reduce smoking and save lives.  According to 2008 National Health Interview Survey data analyzed by CDC, the smoking rate of adults in the United States remained virtually unchanged from 2007 to 2008 at 19.8 percent and 20.6 percent, respectively.  The rate of adult smoking shows little to no change over the past five years and represents 46 million U.S. adults who were current smokers in 2008 with alarmingly high rates in subgroups such as those with low educational levels.  Adults 25 years of age or older with a GED had the highest prevalence of smoking (41.3 percent) and the lowest quit ratio (39.9 percent). Among current cigarette smokers, an estimated 20.8 million had stopped smoking for 1 day or more during the preceding 12 months because they were trying to quit.

3. State-Specific Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults – Untied States, 2008

Press Contact: CDC
Office on Smoking and Health         
(770) 488-5493

More than half of the country still lives in areas where they are not protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws. Expanding smoke-free policies and encouraging homes that are smoke-free are essential to reducing smoking prevalence and exposure to secondhand smoke.  In 2008, the percentage of people in 11 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) who reported that smoking was not allowed anywhere inside their home ranged from 68.8 percent in West Virginia to 85.7 percent in the USVI.  In addition, adult current smoking prevalence varied substantially across 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the three U.S. territories. Among states, smoking prevalence was highest in West Virginia (26.6 percent), Indiana (26.1 percent), and Kentucky (25.3 percent) and lowest in Utah (9.2 percent), California (14.0 percent), and New Jersey (14.8 percent). In 2008, for the first time Puerto Rico (11.6 percent) met the Healthy People 2010 objective (27-1) to reduce cigarette smoking by adults to 12 percent (women in Puerto Rico have met the objective since its inception in 2000).

4. Update: Influenza Activity – United States, August 30-October 31, 2009

Press Contact: CDC
Division of Media Relations        
(404) 636-3286

No summary available.

5. Effectiveness of 2008-09 Trivalent Influenza Vaccine Against 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) – United States, May-June 2009

Press Contact: CDC
Division of Media Relations        
(404) 636-3286

There was no evidence that the 2008-09 trivalent influenza vaccine (i.e., the 2008-09 seasonal flu vaccine) provided any protection against the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) virus. To complement the serologic studies and evaluate the effectiveness of 2008–09 trivalent seasonal influ­enza vaccine against laboratory-confirmed pandemic influenza A (H1N1) illness, CDC used available data to conduct a case-cohort analysis. The analysis used surveillance reports from eight states of persons aged >18 years with confirmed pandemic H1N1 illness during May–June 2009.

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES