213947 Healthy People 2010, Tracking our Nation's Progress on Tobacco Use: Where We Are as a Nation

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Allison MacNeil, MPH , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Michelle Griffin, MPH , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA
Gabrielle R. Promoff, MA , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the Nation and is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and chronic lung diseases. Smoking exacts a toll of 443,000 deaths each year. Healthy People 2010 is a statement of national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats. Communities can, and often do, implement the interventions that bring the Nation closer to achieving these objectives.

Key Points: Healthy People 2010: Focus Area 27 – Tobacco Use is one of the leading health indicators used to measure the health of the Nation. As the Nation approaches the end of 2010, tobacco use objectives were examined to determine what progress has been made and what challenge areas remain for reducing, and ultimately, ending the tobacco use epidemic.

Benefits: Most objectives are improving or remaining much the same. Of the objectives and subobjectives, 5 have met or exceeded their target, 23 are moving toward the target, 10 are showing little or no change, and 2 are moving away from the target.

While significant progress is being made towards reaching the Healthy People 2010 objectives, comprehensive programs are needed to end the tobacco epidemic. If states fully invested in comprehensive tobacco control and prevention at CDC recommended levels for 5 years, there would be an estimated 5 million fewer smokers. As a result, hundreds of thousands of premature tobacco related deaths would be prevented.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention

Learning Objectives:
Examine Healthy People 2010 tobacco use objectives to determine what progress has been made and what challenge areas remain for reducing, and ultimately, ending the tobacco use epidemic.

Keywords: Healthy People 2000/2010, Tobacco Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Health Scientist working in the Policy, Planning, and Coordination Unit of the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia. I coordinate the tobacco-related Healthy People objectives for the office.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.