CDC: numbers decline but nearly 38 million Americans still smoke cigarettes

The good news says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is that cigarette smoking among U.S. adults has declined from 20.9 percent to 15.5 percent in 2016.

The bad news is that nearly 38 million adults in the U.S. smoked cigarettes every day or some days in 2016.

The CDC released its latest data in a news release Jan. 18.

The latest data comes from the National Health Interview Survey.

The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that the burden of death and disease from tobacco use in the United States is overwhelmingly caused by cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products.

According to the report, among daily smokers, the average number of cigarettes smoked per day declined from about 17 cigarettes in 2005 to 14 cigarettes in 2016.

The proportion of daily smokers who smoked 20 to 29 cigarettes per day dropped from 34.9 percent in 2005 to 28.4 percent in 2016, while the proportion who smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes per day rose from 16.4 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2016.

The report says that there are great disparities in smoking persist across population groups.

Cigarette smoking was especially high among males, those aged 25-64 years, people who had less education, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Americans of multiple races, those who had serious psychological distress, those who were uninsured or insured through Medicaid, those living below the poverty level, those who had a disability, those who were lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and those who lived in the Midwest or South.

“The bad news is that cigarette smoking is not declining at the same rate among all population groups. Addressing these disparities with evidence-based interventions is critical to continue the progress we’ve made in reducing the overall smoking rate,” said Brian King Ph.D., deputy director for research translation in CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, in the report.

The CDC says cigarette smoking among U.S. adults has been reduced by more than half since 1964, yet remains the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. It kills more than 480,000 Americans each year.

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 4:38 PM with the headline "CDC: numbers decline but nearly 38 million Americans still smoke cigarettes."