Abstract

Objectives.We sought to determine the prevalence of daily smoking in Louisiana in grades 6 through 12 and to compare Louisiana students' daily smoking to that of national student and Louisiana adult rates. Methods.A statewide, randomized, stratified classroom-based survey of 11,736 subjects was done for the school year 1996-1997. Results.We found that 17.3% of sixth grade students smoked daily, increasing to 36.1% in twelfth grade. Native American (43.7%), white (37.8%), and public school (28.5%) students had the highest rates of daily smoking. Males and females smoked at similar rates. Louisiana students in grades 8, 10, and 12 smoked daily at much higher rates (331%, 193%, and 146%, respectively) than comparable national samples. In 1997, Louisiana students smoked daily at higher rates than did Louisiana adults (28.9% vs 24.6%), primarily due to higher rates of smoking in student females (27.1%) compared to adult females (20.4%). Conclusions.Student smoking in Louisiana is a significant public health problem.