Trends in Current Tobacco Use Among Mississippi High School Students

Audience: Biostatisticians, Epidemiologists, Evaluators, and program staff who are interested in the population-based surveillance and program evaluation.

Key Points:

• Tobacco use represents a significant health problem and it has been identified as causing more preventable diseases and premature deaths than any other drug. Trends analysis on youth tobacco use will help the State Tobacco Control Program to re-examine activities and intervention strategies among adolescents.
• We combined nine weighted Mississippi Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (1993-2011). Topics of current cigarettes, current smokeless tobacco use, and current cigars use were selected for investigation. Overall temporal changes were analyzed by using Logistic Regression procedures that assessed linear and quadratic time effects while controlling for students’ gender, race, and grade level. 
• During 1993-2011, the prevalence of current cigarettes and current cigars use among Mississippi public high school students showed a significant linear decrease. A significant quadratic trend was also detected for current cigarettes and smokeless tobacco use, indicating a non-linear decreasing trend during this period. No linear trend was observed for current smokeless tobacco use. Male students were more likely to be current tobacco users. White students were more likely to use cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. 

Educational Experience: Trend analysis using orthogonal coefficients (e.g., linear and quadratic) will be presented. Subgroup comparisons on current tobacco use will be also included.

Benefits: Application of trend analysis will benefit tobacco programs in evaluating the activities related to the youth tobacco prevention and intervention.