Since 1944, the year of first poll that included data cigarette smoking, the American public has helped us to understand trend in smoking prevalence over time and to assess the extent of the cigarette smoking epidemic.Less information is available on long-term trend in smoking among the major US population subgroups.
Although smoking prevalence in the US general population has declined, smoking is still a major factor directly relate to pattern of mortality in the United State. In the US, death rate attributable to cigarette smoking are among the highest in the word, especially among women, for whom rates are still increasing.
Knowledge about the sociodemographic distribution of smoking attributable mortality in the near future may help in the design of public health program to achieve our national health objective for tobacco use. To address these issue, we examined long-term trend in cigarette smoking according to the largest population subgroups in the US, as defined by race or ethnicity, sex, and level of education.
Nationally representative data that can describe smoking prevalence in successive birth cohorts according to these variables may provide useful information about future trends in smoking relate diseases.