Tobacco use among South Dakotans

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States and in South Dakota. Reducing tobacco use among South Dakotans is critical to alleviate the heavy burden of preventable deaths, illnesses and excessive health care costs that result from using tobacco products. The South Dakota Department of Health's Tobacco Control Program has collaborated with various agencies and coalitions to discourage people from starting to smoke, to help current smokers quit and to protect all people from exposure to secondhand smoke. The South Dakota Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the South Dakota Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS), the South Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), South Dakota Vital Statistics and the South Dakota Perinatal Health Risk Assessment Survey are the primary instruments used to measure progress toward achieving the goals and objectives of South Dakota's tobacco control effort. Since 2001, the South Dakota Department of Health's Tobacco Control Program has been implementing comprehensive statewide programs to reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Concurrent with the comprehensive tobacco control program implementation, the prevalence of cigarette smoking declined significantly from its peak of 27.2 percent in 1998 to its current low of 19.8 percent in 2007, which is equal to the national average of 19.8 percent. Use of spit tobacco among adult South Dakotans also has declined from 6.8 percent in 2003 to 5.8 percent in 2007. There also has been a reduction in the number of high school students that are current smokers, i.e., having smoked cigarettes on one or more of the past 30 days, from 33 percent in 2001 to 25 percent in 2007.2 The prevalence of current smokers among middle school-aged South Dakotans has decreased from 8 percent in 2005 to 6 percent in 2007. Important shifts have occurred in the struggle to quit smoking: In South Dakota, 57.2 percent of current smokers are trying to quit. In addition, 80.8 percent of respondents report that smoking is not allowed in any work area. Positive changes have taken place in South Dakotans' attitudes toward exposure to secondhand smoke. There is widespread awareness of the harm of secondhand smoke, with 83 percent of respondents indicating that they believed secondhand smoke causes lung cancer. These positive trends across a multitude of indicators suggest that the comprehensive tobacco control effort in South Dakota is having an effect in reducing the harms of tobacco. The decreases in smoking prevalence among South Dakota adults and youth are some of the most encouraging findings. However, challenges remain. The tobacco industry is well aware of efforts to reduce tobacco use and continues to develop and promote new products. Despite decreasing cigarette use among all adults in South Dakota, 18- to 24-year-olds still have the highest smoking rate, at 29.3 percent. Surveillance will continue to monitor tobacco use trends in South Dakota and assess the impact of tobacco control efforts. Some of the most important findings are summarized in the following report.