Quitting Smoking Among Adults — United States, 2000–2015

Weekly / January 6, 2017 / 65(52);1457–1464

Stephen Babb, MPH1; Ann Malarcher, PhD1; Gillian Schauer, PhD1; Kat Asman, MSPH1; Ahmed Jamal, MBBS1 (View author affiliations)

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Summary

What is already known about this topic?

Quitting cigarette smoking benefits smokers at any age. Cessation counseling and medications each improve smokers’ chances of quitting, and have an even greater effect when combined. However, use of counseling and medications remains low.

What is added by this report?

Approximately two thirds of cigarette smokers are interested in quitting, and in 2015, approximately half of smokers reported receiving advice to quit from a health professional and making a quit attempt in the past year. However, fewer than one third of smokers who tried to quit used evidence-based cessation treatments, and fewer than one in 10 smokers overall successfully quit in the past year. As of 2015, approximately three in five adults who had ever smoked had quit.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Health care professionals can help smokers quit by consistently identifying patients who smoke, advising them to quit, and offering them cessation treatments. Health insurers can help smokers quit by covering proven cessation treatments with minimal barriers and promoting their use. States can help smokers quit by implementing population-based policy interventions and anti-tobacco mass media campaigns, and by funding comprehensive state tobacco control programs, including state quitlines, at CDC-recommended levels.