Smoking rates among U.S. high school students sank to their lowest levels in at least 13 years, according to a study released on Thursday, bolstering hopes the nation is recovering from an epidemic of teen cigarette use.

Higher prices for cigarettes and a wave of youth-oriented anti-tobacco programs in schools and the media were cited by health officials as the main factors behind the sharp decreases in smoking among students in grades 9 to 12.

About 22 percent admitted in 2003 to being current smokers, or those who had smoked at least once in the previous month, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That was down from 28.5 percent in 2001 and a far cry from the high-water mark of 36.4 percent recorded in 1997.

The federal government began regularly tracking cigarette use in this group, of students aged about 14-18, only in 1991.

Frequent smokers - who smoked on at least 20 of the last 30 days - fell to 9.7 percent last year from 13.8 percent in 2001. The number of students who said they had ever tried a cigarette fell 5.5 percentage points in the same period.

About 22 percent of U.S. adults smoke.

The United States hopes to cut the rate of current smoking among high school students to 16 percent by 2010.

“We have taken back the ground lost between 1991 and 1997,” said Terry Pechacek, associate director for science in the CDC’s office of smoking and health.

U.S. economic weakness and resulting budget crises have prompted some states to dramatically scale back or eliminate funding for anti-tobacco and smoking prevention programs.

Ironically, many were funded through a landmark $206 billion settlement between tobacco companies and more than 40 states that sued the industry in the 1990s to recoup health-care costs for treating ill smokers.

“It’s shortsighted,” said Matthew Barry, senior policy analyst for the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “There is no reason why they shouldn’t be making these investments now.”

Nearly half a million Americans die each year from smoking-related lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses, making smoking the No. 1 preventable U.S. cause of death.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, June 18, 2004.