Health Facts

Tobacco

• Every 13 seconds, someone dies from tobacco use.
• Ninety percent of smokers began smoking before or at age 18.
• 430,700 Americans die from tobacco related disease each year. They are replaced in part by the 3,000 teens who start smoking regularly everyday.
• Smoking is a pediatric health problem. The average teenage smoker starts smoking at age 12.5 and becomes a daily smoker by age 18.
• People who begin smoking at an early age are more likely to develop severe levels of nicotine addiction than those who start at a later age.
• Cigarette advertisements emphasize sexual attraction and independence themes to purposely appeal to teenagers and young adults struggling with these issues.
• Of adolescents who have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, most of them report that they would like to quit, but are not able to do so.
• The most common situation for first trying a cigarette is with a friend who already smokes.
• More than a third of high school students smoke cigarettes.
• Tobacco use among teens has risen 27 percent in six years. The most dramatic increases have been within communities of color. Between 1991 and 1999 cigarette smoking among black students has increased by 56 percent and by 29 percent among Hispanic students.
• Almost eight percent of all high school students use smokeless tobacco.
• Tobacco kills Americans in the prime of life; one quarter of Americans who die between the ages of 35 and 64 die from tobacco-related diseases.
• Kids consume an estimated 18 billion cigarettes each year.

Alcohol

• Half of all hospital admissions are alcohol-related.
• A third of high school seniors have five or more drinks in a row at least every two weeks.
• The average age when youth first try alcohol is 11 years for boys and 13 years for girls.
• The leading causes of death for 15- to 24-year-olds are car crashes, murder, and suicides. Alcohol is a leading factor in all three.

Sex

• 2,265 girls between the ages of 13-19 are infected with HIV every year.
• The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of all developed countries.
• About one million teenagers become pregnant each year; 95 percent of those pregnancies are unintended, and almost one third end in abortions.
• Three million teens are infected with sexually transmitted diseases every year.

Other

• Ninety percent of high school students in 1999 reported they could easily obtain marijuana.
• Adventist students are beginning to drink or smoke earlier than expected. Eight percent reported first using alcohol before age 10. By age 14, 23 percent had tried alcohol and 22 percent had tried tobacco.