The latest Surgeon General’s Report, “The Health Consequences of Smoking – 50 Years of Progress,” marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark reports warning about the health hazards of smoking. Fifty years, 20 million American deaths, and 32 Surgeon General Reports later, smoking has retained its decades-old spot as the largest single cause of preventable death and disease for U.S. citizens.
Although cigarette smoking has declined significantly since 1964, very large disparities in tobacco use remain across groups defined by race, ethnicity, educational level, and socioeconomic status and across regions of the country.
The report focuses on an overall historical perspective of tobacco control and environmental change; the health consequences of active and passive smoking in terms of advances in our knowledge of smoking’s health consequences – including smoking-attributable morbidity, mortality, and economic costs; tracking the changing landscape of tobacco control today; and a vision for ending the tobacco epidemic.
Population of focus: United States
Links to resource:
- Full report — The Health Consequences of Smoking – 50 Years of Progress (pdf)
- Executive summary (pdf)
- Summary of report on American Institutes for Research website
- Links to sections of report
Date: 2014
Organization: The American Institute for Research (AIR) has been partnering with the Office of the Surgeon General and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health to manage and support the development and preparation of the reports since 2010.