Low Rate of Adult Smokers in the US During Pandemic: CDC

NEW YORK (AP) — In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Americans who drank heavily or used illicit drugs increased, but the number of tobacco smokers did not.

Cigarette use in the United States fell to its all-time low in 2020, as 1 in 8 adults said they were smokers, according to a survey released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). E-cigarette use among adults is also down, according to the CDC.

CDC officials attributed the decline to public health campaigns and policies, but outside experts said that price increases for tobacco products and lifestyle changes due to the pandemic were possibly factors.

“Those who were primarily social smokers no longer had to,” said Megan Roberts, a researcher at Ohio State University focused on tobacco product use among young adults and adolescents.

In addition, parents who suddenly stayed at home with their children full time may have had to smoke less. And some people may have quit because of reports that smokers are more likely to develop a severe illness in the event of a coronavirus infection, he added.

According to the CDC report, based on a survey of more than 31,000 American adults, 19% of Americans consumed at least one tobacco product in 2020, down from 21% in 2019.

The consumption of cigars, smokeless tobacco and pipe tobacco remained unchanged. Current use of e-cigarettes fell to 3.7%, compared to 4.5% a year earlier.

Cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product, with 12.5% of adults using them.

Health authorities have long considered cigarette smoking the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, because smoking is a risk factor for developing lung cancer and heart disease or suffering a stroke.

In 1965, 42% of American adults were smokers.

The rate has gradually declined over the decades for a variety of reasons, including taxation and smoking bans in workplaces and restaurants. However, the recent decline is largely due to further price increases, some experts said.

For example, British American Tobacco — the company that manufactures Camel, Lucky Strike and Newport, among other brands — increased prices fourfold in 2020 for a total of around 50 cents per pack.

Interestingly, the number of cigarettes sold in the United States increased in 2020, the first increase in two decades, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported last year.

Fewer people may have smoked, but those who did so increased their cigarette use.

“It's a viable hypothesis that people had more opportunity to smoke because they weren't going to work,” said David Sweanor, an expert on global tobacco policy at the University of Ottawa.

It is also possible that the CDC survey has underestimated how many people are smoking, either because the respondents were not honest or because the poll left out many smokers, he added.

Other surveys suggest that many people increased their consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs in the first year of the pandemic.

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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for the content.