Center for Population Health

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the United States. Tracking statewide smoking rates was one of the population health measures required as part of the SIM Test grant. The plan for improving population health utilized and built upon the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s State Health Assessment, State Health Improvement Plan (Healthy Connecticut 2020) and the Chronic Disease Prevention Plan. The SIM Data Dashboard used the Connecticut School Health Survey data and defines high school youth smoking as students who reported they smoked cigarettes once or more in the past 30 days.

Overall

• In the years prior to the CT SIM implementation, the percentage of high school students who smoke had steadily declined from 8.9% in 2013 to 5.6% in 2015.
• Since the CT SIM implementation, the percentage of high school students who smoke continued to decrease.
• In 2017, 3.5% of high school students reported smoking, which is far below the target goal of 10.4%.

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Information Sources

• Connecticut Youth Tobacco Survey Results - Connecticut Department of Public Health