Key Facts

Tobacco use causes the premature death of about 5,800 Oklahomans each year, or an average of 16 each day, more than from any other cause. 1

Tobacco products are highly addictive and the vast majority of new tobacco users in Oklahoma are children.

There is no safe level of tobacco use.

Secondhand tobacco smoke threatens the health of non-smokers.

Key Facts

• One in four, or about 650,000, Oklahoma adults are current smokers.2
• Oklahoma has one of the highest percentages of smoking-related deaths in the nation.3
• The estimated direct and indirect costs of tobacco use in Oklahoma exceed $2 billion annually.1
• The cigarette sales rate in Oklahoma is 87 packs per person per year. By comparison, the sales rate is 71 packs of cigarettes per person per year for the nation as a whole, and 33 packs per person per year in California.4

Cigarette Sales Per Capita - 2006
Oklahoma, US, and California

 

Source: Orzechowski and Walker

• Two out of three adult smokers report that they are seriously thinking about quitting smoking.5
• Fifty-seven percent of adult smokers quit for one or more days in the past year.2
• Eight out of ten Oklahomans who work indoors are protected by no-smoking policies.2
• Among Oklahoma children now under the age of 18, an estimated 87,000 will die prematurely as a result of tobacco addiction.6
• Currently, 15% of Oklahoma youth in grades 6-8 and 33% of youth in grades 9-12 currently use some form of tobacco products. Half of these youth indicate they would like to quit.7
• Among women who recently gave birth in Oklahoma, about one-third smoked prior to pregnancy; and of those women, 42% quit smoking by their last three months of pregnancy. Oklahoma mothers who smoked during pregnancy were twice as likely to have a low birth weight infant as mothers who did not smoke.8

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs (SAMMEC). Adult SAMMEC and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) SAMMEC software, 2002c. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/sammec.
2. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Oklahoma State Department of Health, 2006
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statesystem.
4. The Tax Burden on Tobacco: Historical Compilation2006. Arlington, Virginia. Volume 41, 2006.
5. Oklahoma State Department of Health. Oklahoma Adult Tobacco Survey, 2004.
6. Meg Gallogly. KEY STATE-SPECIFIC TOBACCO-RELATED DATA & RANKINGS (fact sheet). Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, June 21, 2007
7. Oklahoma State Department of Health. Oklahoma Youth Tobacco Survey, 2005.
8. Oklahoma PRAMS Working Group. Maternal Smoking. Maternal and Child Health Assessment, OK State Department of Health. Vol 9: No 4, Winter 2006.

Updated 8/14/2007