CDPHP Announcement - Alaska Tobacco Facts: 2019 Update Posted Online

Alaska DOH sent this bulletin at 01/27/2020 10:00 AM AKST

Alaska Tobacco Facts: 2019 Update

Posted Online

Alaska Tobacco Facts: 2019 Update cover

Highlights from the Alaska Tobacco Facts, 2019 Update:

  • The annual cost of smoking to Alaska includes $575 million in direct medical expenditures and $261 million in lost productivity due to smoking-related deaths.
  • Smoking among high school students has declined 73%, from 36.5% in 1995 to 9.9% in 2017. In 2017, more high school students were currently using e-cigarettes (15.7%) than smoking cigarettes.
  • The smoking prevalence among Alaska Native adults was over double that of non-Native adults (37.1% compared to 16.7%), but has decreased significantly since 1996.
  • The majority of Alaska adults who currently smoke want to quit (66.6%); moreover, the majority of smokers tried to quit in the last 12 months (53.7%).
  • Nearly all Alaska adults (90.7%) agree that people should be protected from SHS. Support is high even among adult smokers; 81.4% of adult smokers agree that people should be protected from SHS.

For more facts and data, access the 2019 Alaska Tobacco Facts report online>

Go to the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program page for more information>


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