Tobacco Control Monograph Series

Monograph 23 : June 2022

Treating Smoking in Cancer Patients: An Essential Component of Cancer Care

Smoking adversely impacts oncologic and other health-related outcomes among cancer patients, and individuals who smoke experience multiple benefits by quitting. This monograph synthesizes the evidence that smoking cessation treatment increases the quit rate for patients who smoke, identifies evidence-based interventions that have the potential to enhance the delivery of smoking cessation treatment in the cancer care setting, discusses special considerations for medically underserved and vulnerable populations who smoke, and identifies important research gaps related to these topics.

Monograph 22 : September 2017

A Socioecological Approach to Addressing Tobacco-Related Health Disparities

Tobacco use remains the nation’s leading cause of preventable premature death, including death from cancer, and progress in reducing tobacco use and related disease and death has not been equally distributed across population groups. This monograph examines the current evidence surrounding tobacco-related health disparities (TRHD) across the tobacco use continuum—initiation, secondhand smoke exposure, current use, frequency and intensity, cessation, relapse, morbidity, and mortality—and the implications for future research and implementation of effective strategies.

As this monograph demonstrates, a central challenge for cancer control is to ensure that all Americans benefit from advances in tobacco control research and practice.

Monograph 21 : December 2016

The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control

This monograph, a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute and the World Health Organization, examines the current research and evidence base surrounding the economics of tobacco control—including tobacco use, tobacco growing, manufacturing and trade, tobacco product taxes and prices, and tobacco control policies and other interventions to reduce tobacco use and its consequences. This information can help direct future research and inform tobacco prevention and control programs and policies in countries around the world.

Monograph 20 : August 2009

Phenotypes and Endophenotypes: Foundations for Genetic Studies of Nicotine Use and Dependence

Reviews literature on genetic studies of nicotine use and dependence and presents a scientific plan for incorporating genetic research into cross-disciplinary studies of nicotine dependence. Chapters highlight theoretical considerations (including linking heritable genetic traits with nicotine dependence), modeling developmental trajectories to dependence, candidate endophenotypes, epidemiological and methodological considerations, and future directions.

Monograph 19 : June 2008

The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use

Summarizes the scientific literature on media communication in tobacco promotion and tobacco control. It examines tobacco advertising tactics, depictions of tobacco use in news and entertainment, and tobacco control media strategies.

Monograph 18 : April 2007

Greater Than the Sum: Systems Thinking in Tobacco Control

Reviews key lessons from the first two years of the National Cancer Institute’s Initiative on the Study and Implementation of Systems (ISIS) project, with a focus on the four key systems approaches to tobacco control: organizing, dynamics, networks, and knowledge.

Monograph 17 : October 2006

Evaluating ASSIST – A Blueprint for Understanding State-level Tobacco Control

Provides a large-scale evaluation of the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study for Cancer Prevention (ASSIST), a three-pronged intervention using policy development, mass media and media advocacy, and program services. The evaluation used key metrics on tobacco control and policy measures and accounted for covariates of state-level data, including population demographics and economic, political, social, cultural, and geographic factors.

Monograph 16 : May 2005

ASSIST – Shaping the Future of Tobacco Prevention and Control

The American Stop Smoking Intervention Study for Cancer Prevention (ASSIST) was a three-pronged intervention using policy development, mass media and media advocacy, and program services. Monograph 16 provides information about historical context, conceptual framework, case studies of local interventions, and challenges presented by the tobacco industry in addition to the intervention itself.

Monograph 15 : September 2003

Those Who Continue To Smoke

Reviews smoking cessation interventions and whether the targets of cessation interventions are becoming harder to treat. Monograph 15 examines measures of nicotine dependence, smoking behaviors, comorbidities, and access to tobacco control interventions.

Monograph 14 : November 2001

Changing Adolescent Smoking Prevalence

Summarizes the research on adolescent smoking in the United States, including trends within racial/ethnic groups, predictors of use, and rates of smoking initiation. Factors influencing youth tobacco use—such as social norms, access to tobacco, tobacco advertising, and price of tobacco products—are also addressed.

Monograph 13 : October 2001

Risks Associated with Smoking Cigarettes with Low Machine-Measured Yields of Tar and Nicotine

Smoking low-yield (also called low tar or light) cigarettes is associated with significant disease risks. Monograph 13 discusses the chemical composition of these cigarettes, related smoking behaviors, public perception of low-yield smoking, and how low-yield cigarettes have been marketed through the decades.

Monograph 12 : November 2000

Population Based Smoking Cessation

Provides research on the following efforts to reduce smoking in the general population: workplace smoking restrictions, physician intervention, self-help materials, quitlines, mass media, community-wide interventions, and population-based approaches. State-specific examples are discussed.

Monograph 11 : August 2000

State and Local Legislative Action to Reduce Tobacco Use

Reviews the role of public policy change in tobacco control—including ordinances at the state and local level (including clean indoor air provisions, youth access provisions, and restrictions on tobacco advertising and marketing) and restrictions in the home and workplace—and provides model tobacco control ordinances.

Monograph 10 : August 1999

Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Presents the weight of the evidence on health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (also called secondhand smoke), including reproductive, respiratory, and cardiovascular system effects, as well as pre- and post-natal manifestations and cancer. Exposure measurement and prevalence is also summarized.

Monograph 9 : February 1998

Cigars: Health Effects and Trends

Discusses trends in cigar use in the United States and how marketing has influenced those trends. Topics related to cigar use and control, including disease consequences, indoor air pollution, pharmacology and abuse potential, regulation, and taxation, are also presented.

Monograph 8 : February 1997

Changes in Cigarette-Related Disease Risks and Their Implications for Prevention and Control

Presents findings from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study and other research to discuss trends in smoking prevalence, cessation, disease consequence, and mortality. The exposure-response relationship between cigarette smoking and negative health outcomes is also reviewed.

Monograph 7 : August 1996

The FTC Cigarette Test Method for Determining Tar, Nicotine, and Carbon Monoxide Yields of U.S. Cigarettes

Reviews the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) protocol for determining tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields of cigarettes and provides contextual research on smokers’ attitudes toward low-yield cigarettes, smokers’ tendency toward compensatory smoking behaviors, and consumer protections.

Monograph 6 : August 1995

Community-Based Interventions for Smokers: The COMMIT Field Experience

Describes the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) project which consisted of broadly structured community-based interventions that provided persistent cessation messaging. Special attention was paid to community mobilization, including involving health care providers, worksites, diverse communities, schools, and youth in tobacco control efforts.

Monograph 5 : January 1994

Tobacco and the Clinician: Interventions for Medical and Dental Practice

Office-based smoking cessation assistance is a useful tobacco control intervention strategy. Monograph 5 presents what interventions work, how to recruit and motivate clinicians to provide advice, and how to deliver smoking cessation assistance within the health care system.

Monograph 4 : August 1993

Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (also called secondhand smoke) presents a substantial public health problem, as it is responsible for lung cancer and other respiratory disorders in adults and various illnesses in children, including upper and lower respiratory tract infections and asthma. Monograph 4 attempts to estimate the extent of environmental tobacco smoke’s impact on public health.

Monograph 3 : May 1993

Major Local Tobacco Control Ordinances in the United States

Examines trends in the passage of local ordinances in two major policy areas: limiting smoking to protect nonsmokers and reducing youth access to tobacco. An appendix includes model ordinances that can be used by community policymakers.

Monograph 2 : September 1992

Smokeless Tobacco or Health: An International Perspective

Describes the epidemiology, clinical and pathological effects, carcinogenesis, nicotine effects and addiction, prevention, cessation, and policy research findings in the area of smokeless tobacco use. Evidence-based recommendations for smokeless tobacco control strategies are provided.

Monograph 1 : December 1991

Strategies to Control Tobacco Use In the United States: A Blueprint for Public Health Action In the 1990’s

Explores tobacco use trends in the United States and examines comprehensive tobacco control strategies, including community-based smoking control, public information, cessation programs, and prevention using data from NCI’s Smoking and Tobacco Control Program (STCP). Approaches at the individual level—such as school-based interventions, clinical approaches, and self-help—and at the social environment level—such as community mobilization and legislation—are discussed.