Important Facts for Cigarette Smoking Among Adults
Definition
Percentage of adults aged 18 years and older who smoke cigarettes every day or some daysNumerator
Number of adults aged 18 years and older who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and who now report smoking cigarettes every day or some daysDenominator
Number of adults aged 18 years and olderData Interpretation Issues
Starting in 2011, BRFSS protocol requires that the NJBRFS incorporate a fixed quota of interviews from cell phone respondents along with a new weighting methodology called iterative proportional fitting or "raking". The new weighting methodology incorporates additional demographic information (such as education, race, and marital status) in the weighting process. These methodological changes were implemented to account for the underrepresentation of certain demographic groups in the land line sample (which resulted in part from the increasing number of U.S. households without land line phones). Comparisons between 2011 and prior years should therefore be made with caution. (More details about these changes can be found at [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6122a3.htm].) As with all telephone surveys, data may be subject to error resulting from non-coverage (e.g., non-coverage of some low socio-economic status populations and other households not using a land line), non-response (e.g., refusal to participate in the survey or answer specific questions), or measurement (e.g. social desirability or recall bias). Interviewer training and monitoring and strict adherence to good survey research protocols reduces error from these sources.Why Is This Important?
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death, leads to disease and disability, and harms nearly every organ of the body.[https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/index.htm ^1^]Healthy People Objective: Reduce tobacco use by adults: Cigarette smoking
U.S. Target: 12.0 percent (age-adjusted)State Target: 12.4 percent (age-adjusted)