Smoking Rate Among Adults Declines Further as Vaping Usage Rises

According to survey data released yesterday, the adult American smoking rate fell to its lowest level in 2022 since health officials started tracking it. The percentage of adult Americans who vape increased concurrently with the fall.

According to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), only 11.2% of adults smoked daily or occasionally in 2022 , according to preliminary full-year results. 5.8% of the adults polled, more than half, reported using vaping goods occasionally or daily. Adult vaping prevalence was 6.6% in the fourth quarter of 2022, the highest percentage since the NHIS included vaping in its 2019 survey.

The outcomes are preliminary and subject to change at a later time. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), conducts the NHIS once a year.

Smoking Rates Appear To Be Rapidly Declining Due To Vaping.

Further proof that the long-term adult smoking drop has been hastened by vaping use comes from the survey data. In 2009, when the e-cigarette era in the United States began, 20.6% of adults were smokers. Since then, adult smoking rates have decreased by more than 45%. Between 1997 and 2009, smoking decreased by only 16.6% (24.7 to 20.6 percent) in 12 years.

2020 saw a brief fall in the prevalence of vaping following the 2019 “EVALI” crisis, during which health officials misled the public into believing that thousands of lung injuries caused by tainted THC vape carts were caused by adult smokers using vaping goods. Nonetheless, the adult vaping rate has increased and has stayed above 5% since October 2021 after falling to a low of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2020.

The findings regarding adult smoking and vaping align with our understanding of juvenile smoking, which indicates that as vaping gained popularity, teenage cigarette use rapidly decreased. These days, teenage smoking is almost completely eradicated.

According to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), only 1.5% of students in middle and high schools reported smoking over the previous 30 days. In 2021, just 1 in 250 high school students reported smoking daily or nearly daily. (The smoking findings from the 2022 NYTS have not yet been made public by the CDC.)

Most People Paid Little Attention To The Drop In Smoking.

The national news media gave the story scant coverage. CNN and AP reported on it, but instead of assigning their own reporters, the majority of major media outlets, such as CBS News, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, carried the AP story. It doesn't seem like the New York Times covered it at all.

CNN and AP did not imply that the decrease in cigarette smoking was positively correlated with the rise in adult vaping prevalence. Not at all. One linked concern that was mentioned was vaping.

Hardline opponents of vaping tobacco control Jonathan Samet was quoted in the AP piece . He expressed fear that the growing popularity of vaping could lead to a rise in "nicotine addiction" despite the drop in smoking. "Nicotine addiction has its health implications, including the risk of high blood pressure and a narrowing of the arteries," the AP writer added, citing the American Heart Association. (Nicotine usage apart from smoking has not been shown to result in arterial damage or chronic hypertension.)

Citing earlier remarks from the CDC, FDA, American Lung Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the U.S. Surgeon General, CNN reporter Jen Christensen provided a long list of reasons why nobody should consider vaping, including those who smoke cigarettes now.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, there is insufficient data to back up the assertions made by Christensen that these items are useful aids for quitting smoking. "Not one is authorized for this use. According to the FDA, e-cigarettes, vapes, and other electronic nicotine delivery devices are not safe tobacco products.