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Health Highlight Report for Socorro County

Tobacco Use - Youth Smoking Prevalence: Percentage Current Smokers, 2017

  • Socorro County
    16.7%
    95% Confidence Interval
    Description of the Confidence Interval
    The confidence interval indicates the range of probable true values for the level of risk in the community.

    A value of "DNA" (Data Not Available) will appear if the confidence interval was not published with the IBIS indicator data for this measure.
    (12.3% - 22.2%)
    Statistical Stability
    Description of Statistical Stability
    • Stable = This count or rate is relatively stable and should provide a good estimate of your community risk.
    • Unstable = This count or rate is statistically unstable (RSE >0.30), and may fluctuate widely due to random variation (chance).
    • Very Unstable = This count or rate is extremely unstable (RSE >0.50). This value should not be used to represent your population risk. You should combine years or otherwise increase the population denominator in this calculation.
    • DNA = Data Not Available. The required community value and/or confidence interval was not available for this measure.
    Stable
    New Mexico
    10.6%
    U.S.
    8.8%

  • Socorro County Compared to State

    gauge ranking
    Description of Dashboard Gauge

    Description of the Dashboard Gauge

    This "dashboard" type graphic is based on the community data on the right. It compares the community value on this indicator to the state overall value.
    • Excellent = The community's value on this indicator is BETTER than the state value, and the difference IS statistically significant.
    • Watch = The community's value is BETTER than state value, but the difference IS NOT statistically significant.
    • Improvement Needed = The community's value on this indicator is WORSE than the state value, but the difference IS NOT statistically significant.
    • Reason for Concern = The community's value on this indicator is WORSE than the state value, and the difference IS statistically significant.

    The community value is considered statistically significantly different from the state value if the state value is outside the range of the community's 95% confidence interval. If the community's data or 95% confidence interval information is not available, a blank gauge image will be displayed with the message, "missing information."
    NOTE: The labels used on the gauge graphic are meant to describe the community's status in plain language. The placement of the gauge needle is based solely on the statistical difference between the community and state values. When selecting priority health issues to work on, a community should take into account additional factors such as how much improvement could be made, the U.S. value, the statistical stability of the community number, the severity of the health condition, and whether the difference is clinically significant.

Why Is This Important?

Nicotine exposure in any form among youth and young adults can disrupt growth of brain circuits that control attention, learning, and susceptibility to addiction to other drugs (e.g., cocaine and methamphetamine.) Effects of nicotine exposure on youth brain development can be long-lasting, and can include lower impulse control and mood disorders. Young people who smoke are also in danger of nicotine addiction, reduced lung growth and function, and early cardiovascular disease. Shortness of breath and lower stamina due to smoking can affect athletic performance in youth and teens. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Smoking is initiated and established primarily during adolescence, with more than 80% of adult smokers first smoking before age 18. One in six adults and one in nine youth smoke in New Mexico. About half of all lifetime smokers will die early because of their tobacco use. In New Mexico, about 2,800 people die from tobacco use annually and another 84,000 are living with tobacco-related diseases. Annual smoking-related medical costs in New Mexico total $844 million.

Evidence-based Practices

Addressing tobacco use is best done through a coordinated effort to establish tobacco-free policies and social norms, to promote and assist tobacco users to quit, and to prevent initiation of tobacco use. This comprehensive approach combines educational, clinical, regulatory, economic, and social strategies. Research has documented strong or sufficient evidence in the use of the following strategies: - Increasing the unit price of tobacco products - Restricting minors' access to tobacco products; restricting the time, place, and manner in which tobacco is marketed and sold - Strategic, culturally appropriate, and high impact health communication messages (mass media), including paid TV, radio, billboard, print, and web-based advertising at state and local levels - Ensuring that all patients seen in the health care system are screened for tobacco use, receive brief interventions to help them quit, and are offered more intensive counseling and low- or no-cost cessation medications; providing insurance coverage of tobacco use treatment; phone- and web-based cessation services are effective and can reach large numbers of tobacco users; - Passage of laws and policies in a comprehensive tobacco control effort to protect the public from secondhand exposure - Focusing tobacco prevention and cessation interventions on populations at greatest risk in an effort to reduce tobacco-related health disparities Sources: CDC. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs - 2014 (www.cdc.gov/tobacco/stateandcommunity/best_practices/pdfs/2014/comprehensive.pdf) The Guide to Community Preventive Services: Tobacco Use - 2010 (www.thecommunityguide.org/tobacco/index.html)

Healthy People Objective TU-2.2:

Reduce tobacco use by adolescents: Cigarettes (past month)
U.S. Target: 16.0 percent

Related Indicators

Health Status Outcomes:


Note

**Data are not available for some counties (DeBaca and Harding) due to lack of participation in the YRRS by one or more school districts or insufficient sample size. County-level YRRS estimates come from the larger NM sample dataset, while state-level YRRS estimates come from the smaller CDC sample.

Data Sources

New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey, New Mexico Department of Health and Public Education Department.   U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data  

Measure Description for Tobacco Use - Youth Smoking Prevalence

Definition: A current smoker is defined as a youth in grades 9-12 in a NM public high school who smoked cigarettes on one or more days in the past month.
Numerator: Number of youth who reported smoking cigarettes on one or more days in the past month
Denominator: All youth who participated in the YRRS

Indicator Profile Report

Youth Cigarette Smoking Prevalence, Grades 9-12 (exits this report)

Date Content Last Updated

10/23/2018
Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program, Population and Community Health Bureau, Public Health Division, New Mexico Department of Health, 5301 Central Ave NE, Suite 800, Albuquerque, NM 87108. James Padilla, Tobacco Program Epidemiologist, (505) 841-5839, james.padilla@state.nm.us.
The information provided above is from the New Mexico Department of Health's NM-IBIS web site (http://ibis.health.state.nm.us). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Sat, 16 January 2021 from New Mexico Department of Health, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.nm.us".

Content updated: Fri, 21 Jun 2019 11:52:53 MDT