Smoking rate in US down to 16.8%; poverty a big hindrance to quitting: CDC report

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"Smoking kills half a million Americans each year and costs more than $300 billion," according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. It is such a welcome relief when they found out that the smoking rate among adults in the U.S. hit a record-low of 16.8 percent in 2014.

The smoking rate has gone down by 20 percent from 2005 to 2014, including a full percentage-point decline between 2013 and 2014 alone, based on the study published by the CDC for the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). To add to that, the average number of cigarettes smoked per day among daily smokers were also down from 16.7 in 2005 to 13.8 in 2014.

The findings, Frieden said, only shows that there is real progress in helping Americans quit smoking. There is a goal is to reduce the cigarette smoking rate to 12 percent or lower in line with the Healthy People 2020 campaign, which is a 10-year agenda to help improve the country's health.

Meanwhile, the numbers from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) also reveal that the rate of adult smokers among uninsured adults and those who are Medicaid recipients were 27.9 percent and 29.1 percent, respectively, which are almost two times the rate of smokers who have private health insurance (12.9 percent) and those on Medicare (12.5 percent), the UPI reported.

This could also indicate the possible correlation of poverty with the rate of smoking. The numbers show that a little over 26 percent of Americans who live below the federal poverty level are smokers.

The 2014 data also found that there is a disparity in smoking rates among different groups in the society, which is consistent with the previous data. There is still prevalence in smoking among males with 18.8 percent smokers compared to just 14.8 percent in females.

Adults aged 25 to 44 years old has 20 percent smoking rate; people with a General Education Development certificate (43.0 percent); multiracial (27.9 percent) or American Indian/Alaska Natives (29.2 percent); people who live in the Midwest (20.7 percent); people who have a disability/limitation (21.9 percent); and people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual (23.9 percent).

Brian King, Ph.D., deputy director for research translation, CDC Office on Smoking and Health, said that the findings are also trying to emphasize the need to ensure that the proven strategies in preventing and reducing the use of tobacco are reaching as many Americans as possible, particularly those who are in the vulnerable groups.

"Comprehensive smoke-free laws, higher prices for tobacco products, high-impact mass media campaigns, and barrier-free access to quitting help are all important. They work to reduce the enormous health and financial burden of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among Americans."