CDC: About One in Five U.S. Adults Reports Tobacco Product Use

FRIDAY, Nov. 20, 2020 -- About one in five U.S. adults reported currently using any tobacco product in 2019, with most reporting use of combustible products, according to research published in the Nov. 20 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Monica E. Cornelius, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey to examine national estimates of tobacco product use among U.S. adults aged 18 years and older.

The researchers found that an estimated 50.6 million U.S. adults (20.8 percent) reported currently using any tobacco product, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipes (14.0, 4.5, 3.6, 2.4, and 1.0 percent, respectively). Among current tobacco product users, most (80.5 percent) reported using combustible products (cigarettes, cigars, or pipes); 18.6 percent reported use of two or more tobacco products. A higher prevalence of any current tobacco product use was seen for the following groups: men; adults aged 65 years and younger; non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native adults; those whose highest level of educational attainment was a General Educational Development certificate; those with an annual household income less than $35,000; lesbian, gay, or bisexual adults; uninsured adults and those with Medicaid; those with a disability; and those with mild, moderate, or severe generalized anxiety disorder. Adults aged 18 to 24 years had the highest use of e-cigarettes (9.3 percent).

"The implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based, population-level interventions in coordination with regulation of tobacco products, can reduce tobacco-related disease, disparities, and death in the United States," the authors write.

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Posted: November 2020