Smoking Decline in Young Adults Slowing, U.S. Report Finds

One in three young adults is a cigarette smoker, according to a U.S. Surgeon General's report that says a decline in tobacco use among youth has slowed in recent years.

Prevention efforts must focus on this demographic because surveys have shown that 88 percent of adult smokers were introduced to the habit by the time they were age 18, according to today's report by Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. More than 3.6 million students smoke cigarettes, the report found.

About 30 percent of young smokers will quit, the report found, while half of those that continue will die from tobacco- related causes. Smoking early in life carries substantial risk, including cardiovascular damage and reduced lung function, according to the report.

"Targeted marketing encourages more young people to take up this deadly addiction every day," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said in a statement. "This administration is committed to doing everything we can to prevent our children from using tobacco."

A substantial minority of youth believe smoking controls body weight though there's little evidence the assumption is true, according to the study's authors. While there is evidence for lowered weight among smokers after age 35, there is no relationship in smokers who are younger.