The percentage of American adults who smoke has reached an all-time low, but those who are on Medicaid or who are uninsured are twice as likely to regularly use cigarettes than those who have private health insurance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.
According to UPI, the percentage of US adults using the tobacco products has dropped from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 16.8 percent in 2014—including a full percentage-point drop between 2013 and 2014. The CDC also discovered that the average number of cigarettes smoked everyday by daily users had decreased from 16.7 in 2005 to 13.8 in 2014.
“Smoking kills half a million Americans each year and costs more than $300 billion,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a statement last Thursday. “This report shows real progress helping American smokers quit and that more progress is possible.”
The most significant decreases were reported in adults between the ages of 18 and 24. While intervention programs such as new laws and improved access to smoking cessation aids have been credited with the overall success, UPI pointed out that 18 to 24 years olds may be increasingly turning to e-cigarettes, hookahs, and other alternate smoking methods.
Despite successes, gaps remain among the poor, less educated
While the overall numbers are positive, the report still found gaps that need addressing, as the New York Times pointed out. The study found that about 43 percent of less educated Americans smoked in 2014, compared to just five percent of those who had earned a graduate degree.
Furthermore, nearly one-third (29.1 percent) of people on Medicaid and 27.9 percent of those without insurance smokes—compared to 12.9 percent for those with private health insurance and 12.5 percent of those receiving Medicare. In raw numbers, that means that nearly six million men and women on Medicaid and nine million uninsured Americans are regular smokers.
The CDC report also found that males were more likely to smoke than females (18.8 percent vs. 14.8 percent), that one-fifth of adults between the ages of 25 and 44 regularly used cigarettes, and that 23.9 percent of those who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual were smokers. More than 20 percent of those living in the Midwest smoked, as did nearly 28 percent of multiracial Americans.
“These findings underscore the importance of ensuring that proven strategies to prevent and reduce tobacco use reach the entire population, particularly vulnerable groups,” said Dr. Brian King, deputy director for research translation at the CDC Office on Smoking and Health.
“Comprehensive smoke-free laws, higher prices for tobacco products, high-impact mass media campaigns, and barrier-free access to quitting help are all important,” he added. “They work to reduce the enormous health and financial burden of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among Americans.”
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