The report also finds that during 1997-2001 an estimated 438,000 premature deaths occur each year as a result of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. In comparison, approximately 440,000 smoking-related deaths were estimated to have occurred annually from 1995-1999.

“Cigarette smoking continues to impose substantial health and financial costs on individuals and society,” said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. "We’ve made good progress in reducing the number of people who smoke, but we have much more work to do. If we want to significantly reduce the toll in this decade, we must provide the 32 million smokers who say they want to quit with the tools and support to do so successfully.”

This latest study updates the number of deaths due to smoking during 1997-2001, specifically updating the 1995-1999 average estimates previously released. It also reports productivity losses from deaths and finds that smoking causes 3.3 million years of potential life lost for men and 2.2 million years for women. Smoking, on average, reduces adult life expectancy by approximately 14 years.

“Despite the slow steady declines in prevalence in the United States, cigarette smoking still causes hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year," said Dr. Corinne Husten, acting director, CDC Office on Smoking and Health. “It’s in everyone’s best interest to prevent and reduce tobacco use. People will have longer, healthier lives, and there will be fewer smoking-related costs."

For more information about tobacco use and smoking cessation, visit the Office on Smoking and Health Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco. One resource now available to all smokers is HHS’ 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). The toll-free number is a single access point to the National

Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines. Callers are automatically routed to their state’s quitline services.