Current cigarette smoking among adults--United States, 2005-2013

Abstract

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, resulting in more than 480,000 premature deaths and $289 billion in direct health care expenditures and productivity losses each year. Despite progress over the past several decades, millions of adults still smoke cigarettes, the most commonly used tobacco product in the United States. To assess progress made toward the Healthy People 2020 target of reducing the proportion of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes to ≤12.0% (objective TU-1.1), CDC used data from the 2013 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to provide updated national estimates of cigarette smoking prevalence among adults aged ≥18 years. Additionally, for the first time, estimates of cigarette smoking prevalence were assessed among lesbian, gay, or bisexual persons (LGB) using NHIS data. The proportion of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes declined from 20.9% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2013, and the proportion of daily smokers declined from 16.9% to 13.7%. Among daily cigarette smokers, the proportion who smoked 20-29 cigarettes per day (CPD) declined from 34.9% to 29.3%, and the proportion who smoked ≥30 CPD declined from 12.7% to 7.1%. However, cigarette smoking remains particularly high among certain groups, including adults who are male, younger, multiracial or American Indian/Alaska Native, have less education, live below the federal poverty level, live in the South or Midwest, have a disability/limitation, or who are LGB. Proven population-based interventions, including tobacco price increases, comprehensive smoke-free policies in worksites and public places, high-impact anti-tobacco mass media campaigns, and easy access to smoking cessation assistance, are critical to reducing cigarette smoking and smoking-related disease and death among U.S. adults, particularly among subpopulations with the greatest burden.

FIGURE 1

Current cigarette smoking among persons aged ≥18 years, by sex and sexual orientation^* — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2013 ^* Sexual orientation was assessed with the following specified categories: “straight, that is, not gay” for men, “straight, that is, not gay or lesbian” for women, “gay” for men, “gay or lesbian” for women, and “bisexual” for either men or women. ^† 95% confidence interval. ^§ Significantly different from straight females (p<0.05). ^¶ Significantly different from straight (p<0.05).

FIGURE 2

Percentage of daily smokers^* aged ≥18 years smoking 1–9, 10–19, 20–29, or ≥30 cigarettes per day (CPD), by year — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2005–2013 ^* Persons who reported smoking ≥100 cigarettes during their lifetime and who, at the time of the survey, reported smoking cigarettes every day.