Cigarette smoking among adults--United States, 2002.

One of the national health objectives for 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults to </=12%. To assess progress toward this objective, CDC analyzed self-reported data from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sample adult core questionnaire. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that, in 2002, approximately 22.5% of adults were current smokers. Although this prevalence is slightly lower than the 22.8% prevalence among U.S. adults in 2001 and substantially lower than the 24.1% prevalence in 1998, the rate of decline has not been at a sufficient pace to achieve the 2010 national health objective. During 1983-2002, adults with household incomes below the poverty level and those with less than some college education consistently had higher smoking prevalence. A comprehensive approach to smoking cessation that comprises educational, economic, clinical, and regulatory strategies and emphasizes reducing disparities is required to reduce further the prevalence of smoking.