Research Says Tobacco Use in the US Is At an All-Time Low

To smoke or not to smoke? These days, many Americans are choosing the latter, forgoing their use of tobacco and putting their health and wellness first.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that cigarette use among adult Americans is the lowest it’s been since the CDC first began collecting data on the issue in 1965. In collecting the data, researchers looked at education level race, marital status, income level, insurance provider, and sexuality to assess the smoking rates.

Brian King, senior author of the report and deputy director for research translation at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said the downturn in smoking is a huge feat and reason for celebration.

“The good news is that cigarette smoking has reached unprecedented lows, which is a tremendous public health win, down to 14 percent from over 40 percent in the mid-1960s,” he said.

According to the report, “during 2016-2017 declines occurred in current use of any tobacco product; any combustible tobacco product, [two or more] tobacco products; cigarettes; and smokeless tobacco.”

The decline may be a result multiple factors including support groups, and neighborhood-focused efforts such as interventions, community-wide smoke-free policies, and the elevated price of tobacco products. No matter the reason, the numbers are a great indication that for many, attending to our health is rising on our list of priorities.

“It’s critical that we not only modernize our strategies in terms of population but also modernize our interventions to be sure that we are capturing the full diversity of tobacco products that the American public are using,” Kind said.

In the report, which surveyed 26,742 adults, researchers found that it’s not just cigarettes that are on the decline. Cigars, pipes, e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco are also of decreasing interest to American consumers.

Although citizens can work on continuously improving those numbers and lowering our tobacco use, the survey is a great reason to feel optimistic, as well as a huge achievement for lungs everywhere.