US smoking incidence down

Only 15.3 percent of US adults smoked in 2015 – down from 16.8 percent in 2014 and 24.7 percent in 1997, according to a story by Jacqueline Cutler for the New York Daily News, citing a report from the Centers for Disease Control.

US smokers are said to be quitting because of the high price of cigarettes and because of tobacco smoking bans in public places.

“Efforts undertaken for the last several years are finally taking effect,” said Dr. Robert Sussman, director of the Atlantic Respiratory Institute in Summit, New Jersey. “Banning smoking in public places made it less socially acceptable [and] taxes have taken their toll in a good way.”

The federal report, based on a survey of 26,000 people, found that:

• 17.3 percent of men and 13.5 percent of women smoke.
• The lowest level of smokers, 8.4 percent, is among those 65 and older.
• About 17 percent of adults 18 to 64 smoke.
• White people (17.7 percent) smoke more than do black people (16.9 percent), while just under 10 percent of Hispanics smoke.
• Sixty seven point six percent of women and 57.9 percent of men reported that they had never smoked.

The CDC’s survey did not look at electronic cigarette use, though it did indicate, according to Cutler, that ‘obesity is way up’.