9781422272275

using tobacco products, but because many smokers have switched over to e-cigarettes. The decline in cigarette smoking is not reflected evenly across the entire US population, either. Tobacco use has always varied, depending on a person’s gender, race, socioeconomic status, and other factors. “The bad news is that cigarette smoking is not declining at the same rate among all population groups,” says Dr. Brian King of the CDC. “Addressing these disparities with evidence-based interventions is critical to continue the progress we’ve made in reducing the overall smoking rate.” For example, men remain more likely to smoke (15.8 percent) than women (12.2 percent), while those between the ages of forty- five and sixty-four were more likely to smoke (16.5 percent) than those between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four (16.1 percent) or eighteen to twenty-four (10.4 percent). The sharpest decline by age groups is in the millennial range, though most of these nicotine-using individuals are vaping instead of smoking. Cigarette use also varies heavily by race: in the United States, nearly 25 percent of Native Americans smoke, versus 15 percent of African Americans and Caucasians, 10 percent of Hispanic individuals, and just over 7 percent of Asians. The reasons for these disparities are unclear, though researchers have noted similar patterns of tobacco use among the various American racial and ethnic groups for decades. Additionally, cigarette use varies heavily based on education and income. For example, nearly 37 percent of those whose highest education is a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) smoke cigarettes, while only 4 percent of Americans who have a graduate degree (a master’s degree or higher) smoke cigarettes. In households with an annual income of less than $35,000, the prevalence of tobacco use is at 21 percent; in households with an annual income of over $100,000, the rate is 8 percent.

10

Cigarettes and Tobacco Products: The Predatory Drug