Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death for Iowans, taking the lives of more than 5,100 adults each year.
Estimated annual health care costs in Iowa directly related to tobacco use now total $1.28 billion. The Iowa Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control works to reduce tobacco use and the toll of tobacco-caused disease and death by preventing youth from starting, helping adults and youth to quit, and preventing exposure to secondhand smoke.
To achieve these goals, the Division follows Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) guidelines for comprehensive tobacco control programs. State-level initiatives include Quitline Iowa cessation services, youth tobacco-use prevention programming and enforcement of Iowa's Smokefree Air Act. Local tobacco control programs, called community partnerships, support tobacco control initiatives at the community level. The Division also conducts ongoing surveillance of tobacco use by youth and adults in Iowa.
Tobacco & Environment
Tobacco use is still the single greatest preventable cause of death and disease in Iowa. However, our communities are working in a variety of ways to reduce tobacco’s harm by:
Eliminating tobacco-related health disparities
Keeping youth and young adults from starting
Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke
Helping people quit
About Tobacco Data
List items for About Tobacco Data
Tobacco data and measures are developed by the Iowa Public Health Tracking program. Contact us for more information!
Tracking youth tobacco usage involves collecting self-reported data on tobacco use from students through the Iowa Youth Survey (IYS). The IYS is Iowa’s long-running survey that is a near-census of 6th, 8th and 11th grade students statewide.
The IYS is administered every other year with students completing the survey online. The survey is conducted online with a questionnaire of approximately 210 questions.
The Iowa Public Health Tracking portal displays tobacco data from the year 2012 through the most recent year of data available.
Incidence Rate (Per 100K): The incidence rate is the total number who reported positive to the survey question per 100,000 population.
A comparison to IYS data not included here is not recommended. Analysis is done for each question to ensure that the question wording and response options were consistent across the reported time period. This is not the case for years not included here.
Contact us to learn more about Youth Tobacco data or any of the measures displayed on the Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal.
