But the findings show that health officials must target college students to try to get them to quit, said Dr. Donald Sharp of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not Targeted by Campaigns Until now, college students largely have been ignored by anti-tobacco programs. Historically, they were far less likely to smoke than less educated Americans, plus most smokers begin before they reach age 18. So health workers had focused more on persuading children never to try cigarettes and helping older smokers quit, Sharp said. They will suffer a much higher rate of smoking-related illness and death as a result unless effective cessation can be provided to that group.
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death.
The government says it kills more than 400,000 Americans a year. Smoking causes a host of health problems, from lung cancer and heart disease to impotence. Some 3,000 teen-agers begin smoking every day. Wechsler compared surveys of over 14,000 students at 116 colleges in 1993 and again in 1997. Some 28.5 percent of college students smoked last year, up from 22.3 percent in 1993, he reported.