Tobacco product use among adults--United States, 2012-2013

Abstract

Despite significant declines in cigarette smoking among U.S. adults over the past five decades, progress has slowed in recent years, and the prevalence of use of other tobacco products such as cigars and smokeless tobacco has not changed. Additionally, the prevalence of use of emerging products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), has rapidly increased. This report provides the most recent national estimates of tobacco use among adults aged ≥18 years, using data from the 2012-2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS). The findings indicate that 21.3% of U.S. adults used a tobacco product every day or some days, and 25.2% used a tobacco product every day, some days, or rarely. Population-level interventions focused on the diversity of tobacco product use, including tobacco price increases, high-impact antitobacco mass media campaigns, comprehensive smoke-free laws, and enhanced access to help quitting, in conjunction with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco products, are critical to reducing tobacco-related diseases and deaths in the United States.

FIGURE

Percentage of persons who used selected tobacco products among those who met established thresholds,* by product type and frequency of use — National Adult Tobacco Survey, United States, 2012–2013 Note: Denominator for each product included respondents who had ever reached the threshold for the specified product (including current and former users). * Thresholds for the respective products were determined by asking the respondents if they had used the product a specified number of times. Frequency of cigarette smoking was determined among respondents who reported smoking ≥100 cigarettes during their lifetime (n = 26,381); frequency of cigar/cigarillos/ filtered little cigar smoking was determined among respondents who reported smoking the product ≥50 times during their lifetime (n = 6,687); frequency of regular pipe smoking was determined among respondents who reported smoking the product ≥50 times during their lifetime (n = 3,813); frequency of chewing tobacco, snuff, or dip use was determined among respondents who reported using the products ≥20 times during their lifetime (n = 5,004); frequency of water pipe/hookah (n = 4,924), electronic cigarettes (n = 5,905), snus (n = 2,337), and dissolvable tobacco products (n = 152) was determined among respondents who reported using these products at least one time during their lifetime. ^† Cigarettes were the only tobacco product type for which frequency of use was assessed with the response options “every day,” “some days,” or “not at all.” All other tobacco product types were assessed with four response options: “every day,” “some days,” “rarely,” or “not at all.” ^§ The frequency distribution of cigarette usage at the time of the survey among those who had ever met the threshold was as follows: everyday (30.9%), some days (10.8%), or not at all (58.3%). For all other tobacco products, frequency distribution of usage at the time of the survey for everyday, some days, rarely, or not at all, respectively, among those who had ever met the respective thresholds was as follows: cigars/cigarillos/filtered little cigars (5.8%, 9.8%, 30.1%, and 54.3%), regular pipes (2.2%, 3.9%, 11.6%, and 82.3%), water pipes/hookahs (0.4%, 3.9%, 27.1%, and 68.6%), electronic cigarettes (5.3%, 8.3%, 16.2%, and 70.2%), chewing tobacco/snuff/dip (17.1%, 7.7%, 10.8%, and 64.5%), dissolvable tobacco products (3.1%, 4.3%, 10.9%, and 81.7%), and snus (1.8%, 3.7%, 10.4%, and 84.1%).