COMBINING PREVALENCE AND MORTALITY RISK RATES: THE CASE OF CIGARETTE SMOKING

Cigarette smoking is a particularly pernicious behavior because of its high prevalence and mortality risk. We use the powerful methodology of life tables with covariates and employ the National Health Interview Survey-Multiple Cause of Death file to illuminate the interrelations of smoking with other risk factors, and with the combined influences of smoking prevalence and population size on smoking-attributable mortality. We find that the smoking-mortality gap is only modestly affected by other risk factors and excess deaths due to smoking among U.S. adults in the year 2000 were as great as 340,000. Better knowledge of the prevalence and mortality risk associated with cigarette smoking statuses enhances the future health and longevity prospects of the U.S. population.