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MEDIA ADVISORY

CIGARETTE SMOKING AT LOWEST LEVELS EVER IN 2017, NEW DATA SHOW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Contact: CDC/NCHS Press Office
301-458-4800
paoquery@cdc.gov

The latest estimates from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics show that 13.9 of all American adults were cigarette smokers in 2017, the lowest level ever recorded.

Smoking is one of 15 health measures analyzed on a quarterly basis by CDC/NCHS through the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which has been tracking cigarette smoking in the U.S. since 1965pdf icon.

With the 2017 estimates, CDC/NCHS is also presenting, for the first time as part of the quarterly analyses, results for persons living in metropolitan areas separately from those for persons not living in metropolitan areas. The prevalence of current cigarette smoking was 21.5% for those not living in a metropolitan statistical area, nearly double the estimate for adults living in metropolitan areas with a population of 1 million or more (11.4%).

The new data also show:

• Persons not living in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) had the highest rates of being obese, having experienced serious psychological distress during the past 30 days, or having diagnosed diabetes, compared with those living in a small or large MSA (defined by population size).
• Persons not living in a MSA had the lowest rates of meeting federal physical activity guidelines for aerobic or aerobic and strengthening activity through leisure-time physical activity, having ever had an HIV test, or having excellent or very good health, compared with those living in a small or large MSA.
• Persons not living in a MSA had the highest rates of having failed to obtain needed medical care due to cost during the past year, compared with those living in a small or large MSA.

The latest NHIS quarterly findings are published in a new web-based data visualization rather than a printed report as it has been since 1997.