Only four states show increases in smoking cessation attempts

New CDC data suggest that attempts at quitting smoking are largely staying flat. Between 2011 and 2017, there were just four states where the prevalence of people trying to quit increased. Such attempts decreased in New York and Tennessee, while they were largely unchanged in the other 44 states. Still, between 60% and 70% of adult smokers in 2017 said they tried quitting. The study did not look at the ways in which people attempted to stop smoking, nor at how often people succeeded. It could take as many as 30 attempts to quit, the authors write, and so more attempts should be encouraged.