State-specific prevalence of cigarette smoking and quitting among adults--United States, 2004.

After stagnating in the early 1990s, cigarette smoking prevalence among adults in the United States declined during the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2002, for the first time, more than half of those who had ever smoked had quit smoking. To assess the prevalence of current and never cigarette smoking and the proportion of ever smokers who had quit smoking, CDC analyzed state/area data from the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated substantial variation in current cigarette smoking prevalence among 49 states, the District of Columbia (DC), Puerto Rico (PR), and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) (range: 9.5%-27.6%). In 44 states, DC, PR, and USVI, the majority of persons had never smoked. In 34 states, PR, and USVI, more than 50% of ever smokers had quit smoking. Effective, comprehensive tobacco-use prevention and control programs should be continued and expanded to further reduce initiation among young persons and to ensure that smokers have access to effective smoking-cessation services, including proactive telephone quitline counseling.