Quitting Smoking Among Adults—United States, 2000-2015

January 6, 2017 / Vol. 65 / No. 52

MMWR Highlights

Prevalence of interest in quitting smoking among adult smokers aged >18 years, by selected characteristics, 2015.

• 66.7% of men and 69.4% of women expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 62.3% of those 18-24 years old, 72.7% of those 25-44 years old, 68.7% of those 45-64 years old, and 53.7% of those 65 and older expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 67.5% of whites, 72.8% of blacks, 67.4% of Hispanics, 55.6% of American Indian/Alaska Native, 69.6% of Asians, and 59.8% of multi-race adults expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 68.0% of those with <12 years of education, 65.7% of those with a GED certificate, 65.5% of those with a high school diploma, 70.2% of those with some college but no degree, 70.6% of those with an Associate degree, 73.3% of those with an undergraduate degree, and 74.0% of those with a graduate degree expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 68.2% of those at or above the poverty level and 67.3% of those below the poverty level expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 74.5% of those in the Northeast Census region, 67.1% of those in the Midwest Census region, 67.2% of those in the South Census region, and 65.5% of those in the West Census region expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 69.0% of those with private insurance, 69.2% of those with Medicaid and dual eligible, 40.6% of those with Medicare-Advantage, 53.0% of those with Medicare only, 63.6% of those with other coverage, and 69.5% of those uninsured expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 66.4% of those with a disability/limitation and 66.8% of those with no disability/limitation expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 67.4% of those with serious psychological distress and 68.2% of those without serious psychological distress expressed an interest in quitting smoking.
• 68.1% of straight adults and 66.7% of gay/lesbian/bisexual adults expressed an interest in quitting smoking.

Prevalence of past year quit attempt among adult smokers aged >18 years, by selected characteristics, 2015.

• 55.3% of men and 55.6% of women made a past year quit attempt.
• 66.7% of those 18-24 years old, 59.8% of those 25-44 years old, 49.6% of those 45-64 years old, and 47.2% of those 65 and older made a past year quit attempt.
• 53.3% of whites, 63.4% of blacks, 56.2% of Hispanics, 52.1% of American Indian/Alaska Native, 69.4% of Asians, and 57.8% of multi-race adults made a past year quit attempt.
• 50.4% of those with <12 years of education, 48.1% of those with a GED certificate, 52.2% of those with a high school diploma, 57.8% of those with some college but no degree, 57.4% of those with an Associate degree, 57.6% of those with an undergraduate degree, and 55.8% of those with a graduate degree made a past year quit attempt.
• 55.5% of those at or above the poverty level and 55.2% of those below the poverty level made a past year quit attempt.
• 58.8% of those in the Northeast Census region, 54.0% of those in the Midwest Census region, 54.3% of those in the South Census region, and 56.9% of those in the West Census region made a past year quit attempt.
• 57.2% of those with private insurance, 56.3% of those with Medicaid and dual eligible, 42.6% of those with Medicare-Advantage, 42.0% of those with Medicare only, 50.7% of those with other coverage, and 53.5% of those uninsured made a past year quit attempt.
• 55.1% of those with a disability/limitation and 56.3% of those with no disability/limitation made a past year quit attempt.
• 53.0% of those with serious psychological distress and 55.5% of those without serious psychological distress made a past year quit attempt.
• 55.4% of straight adults and 48.4% of gay/lesbian/bisexual adults made a past year quit attempt.

Prevalence of recent smoking cessation among adult smokers aged >18 years, by selected characteristics, 2015.

• 7.2% of men and 7.6% of women recently quit smoking.
• 9.9% of those 18-24 years old, 8.9% of those 25-44 years old, 5.7% of those 45-64 years old, and 5.4% of those 65 and older recently quit smoking.
• 7.1% of whites, 4.9% of blacks, 8.2% of Hispanics, and 17.3% of Asians recently quit smoking.
• 4.4% of those with <12 years of education, 6.8% of those with a high school diploma, 7.2% of those with some college but no degree, 9.2% of those with an Associate degree, 11.2% of those with an undergraduate degree, and 10.8% of those with a graduate degree recently quit smoking.
• 7.9% of those at or above the poverty level and 5.6% of those below the poverty level recently quit smoking.
• 8.6% of those in the Northeast Census region, 6.4% of those in the Midwest Census region, 7.6% of those in the South Census region, and 7.6% of those in the West Census region recently quit smoking.
• 9.4% of those with private insurance, 5.9% of those with Medicaid and dual eligible, 5.5% of those with other coverage, and 5.2% of those uninsured recently quit smoking.
• 5.8% of those with a disability/limitation and 7.9% of those with no disability/limitation recently quit smoking.
• 8.1% of those without serious psychological distress recently quit smoking.
• 7.6% of straight adults recently quit smoking.

Prevalence of receiving a health professional’s advice to quit smoking among adult smokers aged >18 years, by selected characteristics, 2015.

• 55.2% of men and 59.3% of women received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 44.4% of those aged 18-24, 49.8% of those aged 25-44, 65.7% of those aged 44-64, and 65.7% of those aged 65 and older received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 60.2% of whites, 55.7% of blacks, 42.2% of Hispanics, 38.1% of American Indian/Alaska Natives, 34.2% of Asians, and 69.6% of multiple race adults received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 60.8% of those with <12 years of education, 61.6% of those with a GED certificate, 58.1% of those with a high school diploma, 59.1% of those with some college education, 61.6% of those with an Associate degree, 52.6% of those with an undergraduate degree, and 57.7% of those with a graduate degree received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 57.8% of those at or above the poverty level and 54.7% of those below the poverty level received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 65.1% of those in the Northeast Census region, 60.0% of those in the Midwest Census region, 55.2% of those in the South Census region, and 50.6% of those in the West Census region received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 56.8% of those with private insurance, 59.9% of those enrolled in Medicaid (including persons with dual Medicaid/Medicare eligibility), 66.6% of those with Medicare-Advantage, 62.0% of those with Medicare only, 69.2% of those with other coverage, and 44.1% of those without health insurance received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 71.8% of those with a disability/limitation and 53.6% of those with no disability/limitation received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 70.2% of those with serious psychological distress and 55.7% of those with no serious psychological distress received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.
• 57.1% of straight and 57.7% of gay/lesbian/bisexual adults received a health professional’s advice to quit smoking.

Prevalence of using counseling and/or medication to quit smoking among adult smokers aged >18 years, by selected characteristics, 2015.

• 29.1% of men and 33.6% of women used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 16.8% of those aged 18-24, 27.4% of those aged 25-44, 40.2% of those aged 44-64, and 37.0% of those aged 65 and older used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 34.3% of whites, 28.9% of blacks, 19.2% of Hispanics, 20.5% of Asians, and 24.6% of multiple race adults used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 28.7% of those with <12 years of education, 31.4% of those with a GED certificate, 33.1% of those with a high school diploma, 34.6% of those with some college education, 36.0% of those with an Associate degree, 35.1% of those with an undergraduate degree, and 35.9% of those with a graduate degree used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 31.7% of those at or above the poverty level and 29.0% of those below the poverty level used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 37.6% of those in the Northeast Census region, 30.2% of those in the Midwest Census region, 29.3% of those in the South Census region, and 30.7% of those in the West Census region used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 32.1% of those with private insurance, 34.5% of those enrolled in Medicaid (including persons with dual Medicaid/Medicare eligibility), 31.6% of those with Medicare-Advantage, 35.9% of those with Medicare only, 36.0% of those with other coverage, and 21.4% of those without health insurance used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 39.0% of those with a disability/limitation and 28.5% of those with no disability/limitation used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 41.6% of those with serious psychological distress and 30.1% of those with no serious psychological distress used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.
• 31.7% of straight and 14.5% of gay/lesbian/bisexual adults used counseling and/or medication to quit smoking.