2014 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report

On January 17, 2014, U.S. Acting Surgeon General Boris Luschniak released “The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General“. The 2014 Report highlights 50 years of progress in tobacco control and prevention, presents new data on the health consequences of smoking and secondhand smoke, health concerns with electronic smoking devices, and discusses opportunities that can potentially end the smoking epidemic in the United States.

Key findings in the 2014 Report:

• Secondhand smoke exposure is now known to cause strokes in nonsmokers.
• Smoking causes colorectal and liver cancer and increases the failure rate of treatment for all cancers.
• Smoking causes diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis and immune system weakness, increased risk for tuberculosis disease and death, ectopic (tubal) pregnancy and impaired fertility, cleft lip and cleft palates in babies of women who smoke during early pregnancy, erectile dysfunction, and age-related macular degeneration.

Key findings on emerging issues and trends in tobacco:

• Since the 1964 Surgeon General’s report, there have been significant changes in the patterns in the consumption of tobacco products. While Americans were once primarily chewed tobacco and cigars, during the mid 1960’s cigarettes grew in popularity. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, there was an increase in the consumption of moist snuff, cigars and roll your own tobacco. The report notes that the increase in roll-your-own/pipe tobacco has largely been attributed to cigarette smokers looking for alternative, less expensive options. (Chapter 13, page 705).
• Due to the ever-changing tobacco market, the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) has taken into account hookah, snus, dissolvable tobacco, and electronic cigarettes. From 2011 to 2012, the NYTS has seen a significant increase in the rates of these new products. Electronic cigarettes doubled in use among students in middle school and high school. Hookah use also increase among high school students from 4.1% to 5.4%. This increase shows that there needs to be greater monitoring in alternative tobacco/smoking products. (Chapter 13, page 742)
• One great concern that was found in the report was that electronic cigarettes have grown significantly in awareness and use. From 2010-2011, use of electronic cigarettes among current cigarettes smokers increased from 9.8% to 21.2%. Use of electronic cigarettes also increased among former smokers from 2.5% in 2010 to 7.4%. (Chapter 13, 750)

Read the 2014 Report’s fact sheet at: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/fact-sheet.html#

If you’re a smoker or tobacco user, review our NJ Cessation Resources.