(HealthDay News) — Although about two-thirds of US adults who smoked wanted to quit, only 8.8% of smokers quit in 2022, according to research published in the July 25 issue of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Brenna VanFrank, MD, from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used 2022 National Health Interview Survey data to examine national estimates of cigarette smoking cessation indicators among US adults.
The researchers found that 67.7% of the 28.8 million US adults who smoked wanted to quit in 2022; 53.3% made a quit attempt, but only 8.8% quit smoking. Of the adults who smoked and saw a health professional during the past year, 50.5 and 49.2% received health professional advice or assistance to quit smoking, respectively. Overall, 38.3% of those who tried to quit used treatment (counseling or medication). The prevalence of quitting interest was higher for adults who usually smoked menthol versus nonmenthol cigarettes (72.2 versus 65.4%), as was the prevalence of past-year quit attempts (57.3 versus 50.4%); however, these smokers had lower prevalences of receiving quit advice (48.2 versus 53.8%) and using cessation treatments (35.2 versus 41.5%), and similar prevalence of quit success (9.5 versus 7.9%).
“Continued progress in reducing tobacco use and related disparities requires efforts to increase smoking cessation,” the authors write. “Opportunities exist across public health and health care sectors to increase smoking cessation, including expanding access to and use of cessation services and supports.”
