Cigarette smoking down slightly, e-cig use up

[canyonwalker]

A few news organizations this week have picked up the story that smoking rates have dropped in the US. The source of the story is the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from 5/5/23. The MMWR is a fairly wonky weekly report. It sport no pretty charts or infographics. It's fully of stuffy, stilted language. The references it cites are research papers or abstracts that are even harder to read. But the MMWR can't be ignored because it's where important health news breaks. For example, it's where national awareness of AIDS started 40 years ago.

Alas the good news on smoking is not earth shattering. Rates are down only very slightly- and that's for smoking cigarettes. Use of e-cigarettes actually increased. And the "new" data reported are from 2021. Still, it's interesting to see what the picture of smoking in the US is. Here are Five Things:

1. Overall the use of any tobacco product (include e-cigs) is 18.7%. Use of lighted tobacco products (cigs, cigars, etc.) is 14.5%.
2. The breakdown by sex is startling. Tobacco use is far more prevalent among men than women. Use of any tobacco product is 24.1% for men, 13.6% for women. Lighted tobacco use is 18.2% of men, 11.1% of women.
3. Older adults seem more likely to smoke than younger adults... though some of that could be that the smoking age was increased to 21 by federal law a few years ago. And among seniors (age 65+) the rates are basically half those of middle-age adults.
4. Smoking tracks inversely with education level. Those with only a high school diploma or GED are 3-4x as likely to smoke as those with a post-graduate degree. (This is not at all surprising to me.)
5. Per a separate report linked in the MMWR that breaks out smoking rates by state California remains the second least smoky state in the US. Our rate of 11.2% is beaten only by Utah's 9%. Go Mormons! The smokiest state is West Virginia, at 25.2%. Note: these state level numbers are from 2018.