Study finds U.S. teens also smoke cigars

ATLANTA (CNN) -- More than one in four teen-agers admitted smoking at least one cigar during the previous year, according to a 1996 federal government study.

An estimated 6 million (26.7 percent) teen-agers, ages 14-19, said they had smoked cigars, said the study published in Friday's issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Most than one-third of the teens were males. Students in grades 9-12 who smoked cigarettes or used smokeless tobacco were more likely to report smoking cigars. Nearly three-fourths of males and one-third of female cigarette smokers reported smoking at least one cigar in the prior year.

In another article, researchers estimated more than 2.1 million Americans died from cigarette smoking from 1990 through 1994. If current patterns continue, the report predicted, 25 million Americans will die prematurely from smoking-related diseases.

The study also found that cigarettes have killed more than 10 million Americans since the first surgeon general's report on smoking and health in 1964.

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