US Smoking Rate Stalled At 21 Percent

Smoking rates among the U.S. adult population fell between 2000 and 2005, but has held steady at about 21 percent since then, according to officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

After falling dramatically since the 1960s, the percentage of Americans who smoke has remained basically flat since about 2004, the CDC reported Tuesday.

Nearly 24 percent of men and 18 percent of women smoked in 2009, including nearly one-third of those living below the poverty line, the health agency said.

The CDC’s report was part of its Vital Signs program, which provides the most recent data on key indicators of important public health topics.  Data is generated from the agency’s national surveillance systems. 

The report showed that smoking rates decline with increasing education, with fewer than 6 percent of adults with a graduate degree being smokers, compared with more than 25 percent of adults with no high school diploma.

"Smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in this country," said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden.

"But progress is possible. Strong state laws that protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke, higher cigarette prices, aggressive ad campaigns that show the human impact of smoking and well-funded tobacco control programs decrease the number of adult smokers and save lives."

Utah had the lowest adult smoking rate in 2009, followed by California.
 
The CDC said secondhand, or passive, smoke remains a problem for non-smokers, including children. 

Exposure to secondhand smoke can cause sudden infant death syndrome, low birth weight, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, exacerbated asthma, respiratory symptoms, and decreased lung function in children, the CDC said.   It can also cause health problems, such as heart disease and lung cancer, in nonsmoking adults.

According to the report, 54 percent of children aged three to 11 were exposed to second-hand smoke.  Virtually all children who live with a smoker have measurable levels of toxic chemicals from cigarette smoke, the agency said.

Additionally, children whose parents smoke are twice as likely to pick up the habit themselves, compared with children who grow up with non-smoking parents.

Smoking is considered a leading cause of various types of cancer, heart disease, and lung diseases such as emphysema.

The CDC said the federal government is stepping up its efforts to reduce tobacco use to achieve the targets set in its Healthy People 2010 and Healthy People 2020 initiatives.   The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products, providing new opportunities to reduce smoking rates, the agency said.

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