The Toll of Tobacco in Nevada

In Nevada, cessation is a key component in our effort to eliminate the health, social, and economic consequences of the tobacco epidemic.

A reported 70 percent of smokers want to quit. And approximately 41 percent try each year. However, recent data shows that fewer than 20 percent of tobacco users used a cessation aid such as over-the counter nicotine replacement therapies in their most recent quit attempt.

Each year, tobacco use results in more than 400,000 premature deaths in the United States and costs in excess of $157 billion in lost productivity and medical expenditures. Approximately 46 million adult and five million youth people are current smokers. Although adult smoking prevalence nationally had declined steadily for more than twenty years, from 42 percent in 1965 to 25 percent in 1990, the rate of decline slowed in the 1990s. Unless this rate of decline can be accelerated, it will be impossible to meet the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing cigarette smoking among adults by half (from 25 percent to 12 percent) in the next 6 years.

In the table below are the Nevada specific statistics for comparison to the national figures:

Nevada High School Students who smoke - 19.6% (19,900)

Male High School Students who use smokeless or spit tobacco - 6.1% (females much lower)

Kids (under 18) who become new daily smokers each year - 6,600

Kids exposed to secondhand smoke at home - 84,000

Packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by kids each year - 5 million

Adults in Nevada who smoke - 26.0% (386,400)

Nationwide, youth smoking has declined since 1987, but remains at high levels.

The 2003 Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance (YRBS) found that 21.9% of U.S. high school kids smoke and 11.0% of high school males use spit tobacco.

U.S. adult smoking has decreased gradually since the 1980s,

and 22.5% of U.S. adults (about 45 million) currently smoke.

Deaths in Nevada from Smoking Adults who die each year from their own smoking - 3,300

Kids now under 18 and alive in Nevada who will ultimately die prematurely from smoking - 56,000

Adults, children and babies who die each year from others' smoking - 300 to 540 (secondhand smoke and pregnancy smoking)

Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined -- and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes -- such as fires caused by smoking (more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco use.

No good estimates are currently available, however, for the number of Nevada citizens who die from these other tobacco-related causes, or for the much larger numbers who suffer from tobacco-related health problems each year without actually dying.

Smoking-caused annual monetary healthcare costs in Nevada - $440 million.

Portion covered by the state Medicaid program - $96 million

Residents' state and federal tax burden from smoking-caused govt. spending - $486/household

Smoking-caused productivity losses in Nevada - $762 million

(Amounts do not include health costs cuased by exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking-caused fires, spit tobacco use, or cigar and pipe smoking. Other non-health costs from tobacco use include residential and commercial property losses from smoking-caused fires (more than $500 million per year nationwide); extra cleaning and maintenance costs made necessary by tobacco smoke and litter (about $4+ billion naitionwide for commerical establishments alone); and additional productivity losses from smoking-caused work absences, smoking breaks, and on-the-job performance declines and early termination of employment caused by smoking-caused disability or illness (dollar amount listed above is just from productive work lives shortened by smoking-caused death).

The following eight bullets point out what works in tobacco cessation:

- Increasing the unit price of tobacco products

- Smoking bans and restrictions

- Mass media campaigns

- Physician intervention

- Counseling (individual, group, quitlines)

- Pharmacotherapy

- Reducing patient out-of-pocket costs

- Reminder systems for clinical settings

Of the eight bullets the Nevada Tobacco Users' Helpline, a division of the University of Nevada School of Medicine addresses six of them. It is a statewide nicotine dependence treatment program that treats all forms of tobacco dependence, both smoked and smokeless. It works with private insurers, Medicaid and sliding scale, provides access to pharmocotherapy, and trains physicians on simple intervention techniques and setting up a reminder system. They partner with other tobacco control programs on media campaigns.

The Helpline mission is to provide innovative, evidence-based confidential treatment, to assist efforts in quitting the nicotine dependency through telephone based professional counseling and education. To healthcare providers, counselors and community partners, the mission is to provide professional, evidence-based nicotine dependence training and education.

For more information on the statewide Helpline their website address is www.livingtobaccofree.com. Their phone number is toll free at 1-888-866-6642. Office hours are Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.