The overall cigarette smoking rate among US adults has hit an all-time low, according to a story at medicalxpress.com quoting the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Preliminary data from the National Health Interview Survey is said to have shown that smoking rates declined from 15.5 percent in 2016 to 13.9 percent in 2017.
“Cigarette smoking among adults has been on a downward trajectory for decades,” said Brian King, deputy director for research translation in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
“It’s the lowest percentage we’ve seen since we started monitoring smoking rates in 1965.”
Still, the preliminary 2017 data indicates 34 million Americans smoke, according to King. And an estimated 480,000 Americans die each year due to cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke exposure, according to the latest CDC data.