Any Tobacco Use in 13 States—Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2008

August 6, 2010 / Vol. 59 / No. 30

MMWR Introduction

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Although cigarettes are the predominant form of tobacco used, other tobacco products—such as smokeless tobacco, cigars, pipes, and kreteks—are also used, sometimes in addition to cigarettes. To estimate the prevalence of any tobacco use as well as the use of multiple tobacco products, CDC analyzed data from the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

Data from 13 states that implemented a BRFSS optional module in 2008 to measure any tobacco use and polytobacco use, indicate that 1 of 4 adults use some form of tobacco (e.g., cigarettes, cigars, or smokeless tobacco) and that the use of cigarettes in combination with other forms of tobacco (polytobacco use) is most common among persons with household incomes less than $35,000 (9.8%), young adults aged 18–24 years (5.7%), people who were single (4.8%), men (4.4%), those with less than a high school education (3.6%), and those with a high school diploma and GED (3.6%).