Tobacco Use

Over the past years, tobacco use has become a major health policy concern in the U.S.. Tobacco use causes preventable diseases which lead to high health care costs. These diseases in turn reduce productivity on the labor force. Furthermore, secondhand smoke threatens the health of nonsmokers. Each year, over 400,000 tobacco users in the U.S. die from tobacco-related diseases and nearly 50,000 adult nonsmokers are reported dead from secondhand smoke. This book examined four major factors related to tobacco use namely: smokefree air policies, political factors, health-related quality of life, and socioeconomic status. As serious as the problem is, the literature is rare on the impact of political factors and smokefree air policies on tobacco use compared to the other factors. This book, therefore, offers a unique perspective on the understanding of tobacco use and its related policies in the U.S.. The findings in this book unearth some critical issues in the fight against tobacco use and should be useful for those in academe, students interested in health policy, legislators, anti- tobacco groups, private and government officials addressing health policy issues.