North Dakota youth smoking rates down
Bismarck, N.D. - According to the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) released Nov. 30, smoking rates among North Dakota high school students have decreased from 22.4 percent in 2009 to 19.4 percent in 2011.
The drop in youth smoking rates marks a success for North Dakota’s comprehensive tobacco use prevention efforts, led by the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy (Center).
“What we’re doing is working,” said Jeanne Prom, executive director of the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy.
The Center takes a comprehensive approach that includes public health education campaigns and promoting local smoke-free and tobacco-free policies to protect the lives of North Dakotans by reducing tobacco use across the state.
According to the Center, 600 North Dakota kids become new daily smokers each year, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that if the state’s current smoking rate continues, 1,100 kids now under 18 years old in North Dakota will die prematurely from smoking.
To reduce smoking rates among kids in North Dakota, the Center’s local public health partners have been working with school boards to adopt and enforce comprehensive tobacco-free campus policies. To date, 101 North Dakota school districts have adopted policies. Many of the policies went into effect as part of the implementation of North Dakota’s fully funded tobacco prevention program that began in 2009.
Prom said tobacco-free school policies are vital to saving North Dakota kids from the dangers of tobacco use, and tobacco prevention funding allows the much needed time for local public health units to educate school boards, staff and communities on the health benefits of implementing tobacco-free policies.
“When youth aren’t exposed to smoking, they are less likely to start,” Prom said. “Tobacco-free school campuses create environments where fewer young people experiment with any kind of tobacco use.”
Along with the decline in high school smoking rates, a decrease was also reported in high school usage of other tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, snuff and dip where rates dropped from 15.3 percent in 2009 to 13.6 percent in 2011. The decreases in youth tobacco use coincide with a recent CDC survey showing North Dakota adult smoking rates dropped from 18.6 percent in 2009 to 17.4 percent in 2010.
“We are pleased to see our approach is paying off,” Prom said.
The complete Youth Risk Behavior Survey can be found at http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/health/YRBS/index.shtm