1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Table 48. Estimated Number (in Thousands) of Persons Who Began Daily Cigarette Use During Each Year 1965-1997, Their Mean Age at First Daily Use, and Annual Age-Specific Rates of First Daily Use (per 1000 Person-Years of Exposure), Based on 1994-1998 NHSDAs

			AGE-SPECIFIC RATE OF FIRST USE1
YEAR	INITIATES (1000s)	MEAN AGE	12-17	18-25	26-34
1965	1598	17.7	44.1	104.8	6.9
1966	1698	17.8	43.9	114.5	6.3
1967	1823	18.5	49.6	103.8	18.2
1968	2284	18.4	49.8	152.0	8.0
1969	2022	17.7	60.0	107.2	15.7
1970	1804	17.4	49.8	96.0	7.0
1971	2082	17.9	58.1	108.4	13.8
1972	1938	17.8	57.3	89.2	25.0
1973	2196	17.9	61.8	105.1	24.8
1974	2344	18.6	67.2	105.7	19.9
1975	1806	18.3	50.2	86.0	12.6
1976	1865	17.9	52.4	84.4	16.3
1977	2074	18.4	59.6	96.2	13.6
1978	2032	18.5	57.4	90.7	20.1
1979	2006	18.8	57.2	92.4	17.1
1980	1673	18.5	51.9	77.6	9.9
1981	1646	19.0	50.8	68.6	14.0
1982	1592	18.7	51.3	68.5	11.5
1983	1564	18.3	45.2	74.3	12.2
1984	1581	18.5	53.1	64.8	12.6
1985	1530	18.7	50.2	65.3	14.0
1986	1535	18.0	54.3	68.7	8.7
1987	1453	18.3	50.0	65.7	9.7
1988	1457	18.6	51.9	63.7	12.9
1989	1461	18.6	54.2	61.4	8.1
1990	1473	18.5	55.9	61.0	13.4
1991	1460	18.1	55.5	59.9	12.7
1992	1603	18.2	59.0	67.7	10.9
1993	1550	18.6	57.5	59.7	11.7
19942	1736	17.7	68.8	66.7	8.7
19953	1804	18.2	69.2	66.7	10.7
19964	2106	17.8	74.9	91.6	13.2
19975	2134	18.4	75.1	83.5	7.8

*Low precision; no estimate reported.

**Estimate rounds to zero.

¹ The numerator of each rate equals the number of persons who first used the drug in the year (times 1000). The denominator of each rate equals the number of persons who were exposed to risk of first use during the year, weighted by their estimated exposure time measured in years. For example, for the age group 12-17 in 1990, the denominator is the sum of three components:

(1) those persons 12-17 years old in 1990 who first used the drug in 1989 or earlier, times a weight of zero. The weight is zero since they had zero exposure to the risk of first use in 1990.

(2) those who first used the drug in 1990 times a weight of .5. The weight of .5 assumes that these people, on average, first used the drug at midyear and consequently have a half year of exposure (i.e. the first half of the year.)

(3) those who never used, or those who first used the drug in 1991 or later, times a weight of one. The weight of one assumes their exposure to the risk of first use during 1990 was for the whole year.

Each person is also weighted by his/her sample weight.

² Estimated using 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 data only.

³ Estimated using 1996, 1997 and 1998 data only.

⁴ Estimated using 1997 and 1998 data only.

⁵ Estimated using 1998 data only.

Source: SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1994-1998.

90714 (301B)

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