The Influence of Smoking Cessation on the Prevalence of Overweight in the United States

The proportion of adults in the United States who were overweight increased markedly between 1978 and 1990. 1 The reported prevalence of smoking in the country declined steadily during the same period. 2 These two important public health issues are interrelated, because smoking is associated with lower body weight, on average, and the cessation of smoking is associated with weight gain. 3 – 5 The decrease in the prevalence of smoking may thus be one factor contributing to weight gain in the U.S. population. 6 We estimated the association between smoking cessation and both weight gain and the increase in the prevalence of overweight in . . .