US Smoking Rate Declines, but the poor remains at a higher risk

According to figures released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 17% of American adults smoked cigarettes in 2014 and there has been about a 20% drop from the rate of adult smoking in 2005. This figure is the lowest recorded since cigarette smoking has been tracked by the agency. Among those who still smoke, the number of cigarettes smoked daily has fallen to 13.8, down from 16.7 in 2005, the CDC said. In 1965, 42.4% of American adults smoked, and though the habit’s prevalence has declined steadily, reducing the ranks of the addicted has become an increasingly uphill battle.

Smoking is believed to be one of the most paramount and chief cause of preventable death in the United States of America. However regrettably, officials have stated that people supported by the government’s Medicaid health insurance program for low-income individuals, and those without any kind of health insurance at all are much more likely to smoke than people who have stable health insurance programs. By contrast, 12.9 percent of adults with private insurance and 12.5 percent of those on Medicare now smoke. Smoking remains to victimize and kill half a million Americans every year, as reported by the findings But the results still suggest that public health efforts to guide and educate regarding the health hazards caused by smoking are generating results.

Whilst the survey primarily focused completely on adults, other recent data highlights that a little more than 9 percent of USA high school students smoke cigarettes. This appears to indicate that the more education someone has, the less likely they are to take up smoking.

“The 2014 Surgeon General’s Report on the Health Consequences of Tobacco states as a major conclusion that while cigarette smoking has declined significantly since 1964, very large disparities in tobacco use remain across groups, including those defined by race, socioeconomic status, educational level, and military status”, Burkett said in a statement. “They work to reduce the enormous health and financial burden of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among Americans”.

“There has been no evidence that a smoker is exposed to less chemicals and poisons after switching to slim cigarettes”, said Wu, one of China’s most prominent anti-smoking campaigners. This past year, the sharpest decline was seen among young adults between the ages of 18 and 24.Smoking has been one of the brightest public health successes of recent history.

Overall, the broad decline is believed to contribute towards achieving the national “Healthy People 2020” goal of bringing smoking rates down to 12 percent or less within five years.

“Interventions like increasing the price of tobacco and the passage of comprehensive smoke-free laws at both the state and local levels have made a difference,” said lead investigator Brian King, deputy director for research translation at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health in Atlanta.. Mass-media education campaigns led by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have also contributed to dropping smoking rates. “There’s a lot more we need to do to address the disparities in smoking rates that particularly affect the most vulnerable populations, such as those below the poverty line, those with a lower education and those who remain uninsured,” King added.