The adult smoking rate in the United States has fallen to 11 percent, according to preliminary survey data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). That’s down from 12.5 percent last year.
Smoking rates ballooned after World War II in America, but have steadily declined since the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964 (when 42% of all adults smoked) on the health effects of smoking, as well as the US Clinical Practice Guidelines on how clinicians can treat smoking, the creation of the national tobacco quitline at 800-QUIT-NOW, the seven FDA-approved medications to quit tobacco use, clean indoor air laws, rising tobacco taxes, media campaigns to encourage people to quit, and other public health initiatives.
While those trends are positive for public health, use of vaping products rose from 4.5% among adults to six percent. And one out of four youth vape.
“This is great news, but we have much more work to do to help people avoid the harms of tobacco use,” said UW-CTRI Director Dr. Michael Fiore.