Cigarette Smoking Among Adults, United States

One of the national health objectives for 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults to less than 12% (Objective no. 27—1a).1 To assess progress toward this objective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed self—reported data from the 2004 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sample adult core questionnaire. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that, in 2004, approximately 20.9% of U.S. adults were current smokers. This prevalence is lower than the 21.6% prevalence among US adults in 2003 and is significantly lower than the 22.5% prevalence among adults in 2002.2 The prevalence of heavy smoking (more than 25 cigarettes a day) has also…