State-specific prevalence of current cigarette smoking among adults and the proportion of adults who work in a smoke-free environment--United States, 1999.

Tobacco use in the United States causes approximately 430,000 deaths each year, including an estimated 3000 deaths from lung cancer among nonsmokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). In addition, an estimated 62,000 coronary heart disease deaths annually among nonsmokers exposed to ETS. The detrimental health effects of exposure to ETS are well documented and include, in addition to lung cancer and coronary heart disease among adults, low birthweight and sudden infant death syndrome from exposure during and after pregnancy and asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia in children. This report summarizes the 1999 prevalence of current cigarette smoking among adults by state and the proportion of persons who work indoors and who report that their workplaces have smoke-free policies. The findings indicate that in 1999, adult smoking prevalence differed more than two-fold across states (13.9%-31.5%) and that the proportion of persons who reported that their workplace had an official smoke-free policy ranged from 61.3%-82.1%. As the respondents' level of education increased, they were more likely to report working under a smoke-free policy.