Tobacco and Public Health - TCSC Indonesia

Table 36.1 Comparison of alcohol and tobacco use
ALBERT B. LOWENFELS AND PATRICK MAISONNEUVE
Variable Tobacco Alcohol
History of early use Brought back to Europe from Mentioned in Old
the Americas by Columbus. Testament
Widespread use by 1700s.
Minimum legal age (USA) 18 or 19, depending on locality 21
Estimated deaths per year in
USA (Miller and Gold 1998) 400 000 100 000
Taxable substance? Yes Yes
Current use by persons
≥18 yrs in 1999 (USA)
Males 26% 70%
Females 22% 56%
Estimated % with addiction High proportion 5–10%
Recommended ‘safe’ level No ‘safe’ level Recommended upper limit:
for consumption Males ≤ 2 units per day
Females ≤ 1 unit per day
Known carcinogens present? Yes No
Impact on fetus Lowers birth weight Causes fetal alcohol
syndrome
Cost/yr 60 Billion (1994) 148 Billion (1998)
Number web sites (Google) 1 Smoking 5 630 000 Drinking 4 490 000
Tobacco 3 540 000 Alcoholism 625 000
Number medline retrivals1 Smoking 83 291 Drinking 58 163
Tobacco 32 514 Alcoholism 48 226
1 February 2002.
Table 36.2 Association between use of tobacco and alcohol during past month in 24 505
persons responding to National USA Household Survey on drug abuse, 1997
Age group N % Smokers % Smokers in % Smokers in % Smokers and
non-drinkers drinkers drinkers
12–17 7844 19% 9.5% 57% 11%
18–25 6239 36% 19% 50% 28%
26–34 4387 34% 25% 40% 24%
35+ 6035 29% 24% 33% 17%
Total 24 505 28% 20% 36% 19%
Data from Table 8.7, Ref #1. Drinking refers to any consumption of alcohol in past month.
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