Persistent disparity in prevalence of current cigarette smoking between US adolescents with vs. without a past-year major depressive episode.

Using data from annual (2004-2010) cross-sectional surveys of nationally representative samples, the prevalence rate of current (i.e., past 30 days) cigarette smoking among US adolescents age 12-17 years was twice as high for those with vs. without a past-year major depressive episode (PYMDE) (22 vs. 11% in the 2004 survey and 16 vs. 8% in the 2010 survey). The proportion of all US adolescent current smokers who had a PYMDE was about 24% for females; 70-80% of all smokers with PYMDE were females. The persistently higher smoking rates in US adolescents with vs. without PYMDE emphasizes the need for interventions.