The Great American Smokeout
November 13, 2017 - The American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout is an annual event that encourages smokers to make a plan to quit smoking (1). The 42nd annual Great American Smokeout will be held on November 16, 2017.
In the more than 50 years since the Surgeon General’s first report on smoking and health, cigarette smoking among U.S. adults has been reduced by approximately half. Nonetheless, since 1964, the year of that first report, an estimated 20 million persons have died because of smoking. Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States (2).
About two out of three adult smokers want to quit smoking cigarettes, and approximately half of smokers made a quit attempt in the preceding year (2). However, in 2016, more than one in seven U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers (3). Getting effective help through counseling and use of medications can increase the chances of quitting by as much as threefold (4).
Information and support for quitting smoking is available by telephone at 800-QUIT-NOW (800–784–8669). CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers campaign offers additional quit resources at https://www.cdc.gov/tips.
References
- American Cancer Society. The Great American Smokeout. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society; 2017. https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-tobacco/great-american-smokeout.html
- US Department of Health and Human Services. The health consequences of smoking—50 years of progress: a report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2014.
- Clarke TC, Norris T, Schiller JS. Early release of selected estimates based on data from the 2016 National Health Interview Survey. National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/earlyrelease201705.pdf
- Fiore MC, Jaen CR, Baker TB, et al. Treating tobacco use and dependence: 2008 update. Clinical practice guideline. Respir Care 2008;53:1217–22. PubMed
