Giving Up Smoking On The Increase
While the percentage of American smokers hasn’t significantly changed over the past few years, a federal survey has found a bump in the number of occasional smokers who are giving up smoking.
Analysts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said increased cigarette prices, higher taxes and smoking bans in public areas are likely reasons people are smoking less frequently or even quitting smoking completely.
A comparison of annual state surveys conducted from 1996 to 2001 shows that while the percentage of smokers remained steady, the number who said they smoked only occasionally rose in 38 states and the District of Columbia.
“This is still a phenomenon that we don’t fully understand,” said Terry Pechacek, associate director for science for the CDC’s Office for Smoking and Health. “When it was first picked up in the 1980s, it was discounted in the public health community as an almost aberrant phenomenon. It was almost unusual for someone not to be a daily smoker.”
The annual telephone survey asked adults “Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes in your entire life?” and “Do you now smoke cigarettes every day, some days, or not at all?”
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the study found that the median rate in 2001 of those who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes and said they smoked either every day or some days was 23.4 percent, and the median rate of those smokers who said they smoked only some days was 24 percent.
Among the states showing an increase in the number of occasional smokers, Arizona went from 16.2 percent in 1996 to 28 percent in 2001; Delaware, 13.5 percent to 24 percent; Nevada, 10.8 percent to 22.8 percent; and Ohio, 9.6 percent to 20.8 percent. The’ District of Columbia had the highest percentage of smokers who said they only smoked occasionally, at 41.2 percent.
“We’re seeing a pattern of cutting down,” Pechacek said. “We assume this is something people are doing to try to reduce their risk, but there’s no safe alternative to quitting smoking.”
Reducing tobacco use by half or more without quitting did not decrease mortality rates from tobacco related diseases compared with heavy smokers of 15 or more cigarettes a day, a recent study found.
States should have comprehensive tobacco control programs to encourage smokers to stop smoking, the CDC said.
The highest smoking rate was in Kentucky at 30.9 percent; the lowest was Utah at 13.3 percent. None of the, states has yet met health officials 2010 goal of having a rate of 12 percent or less.