
BecomeAnEX
A free, digital quit-smoking program developed by Truth Initiative in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.
Learn MoreTobacco use, still the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the country, leads to 540,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Most smokers — nearly 70 percent — say they want to quit, and recent data show an increasing number of people quitting successfully. In 2016, 59 percent of adults who ever smoked quit, an increase from 50.8 percent in 2005. Nevertheless, annual quit success rates remain low — at roughly 7 percent — underscoring the highly addictive nature of nicotine, the ineffectiveness of the “cold turkey” approach, or not using available treatments, and the multiple attempts it can take to successfully quit.
Online quitting resources are increasingly important to tobacco users. In 2017, more than one-third of all smokers looked online for information about quitting smoking, a proportion that has more than doubled over the past 12 years. This translates to 12.4 million smokers who turned to the internet for help quitting in 2017. Evidence shows that online quit-smoking programs help smokers succeed. For example, following the EX Plan by BecomeAnEX®, a free digital quit-smoking program developed by Truth Initiative® in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, quadruples a smoker’s chance of quitting.
Nearly 70% of smokers say they want to quit.
In 2016, approximately 15.5 percent (37.8 million) of American adults were current smokers, including 13.5 percent of women and 17.5 percent of men. Quit attempts and rates of successfully quitting are similar among men and women. Chances of success increase with each quit attempt.
Quit attempts and quit rates decrease with age, possibly because of increased difficulty with changing behaviors that have been established over many years, according to data from 2015.
The most recent data on smoking during pregnancy show that in 2012 and 2013 combined, about 15.4 percent of pregnant American women were current smokers. An analysis from 2011 found that 55 percent of women who smoked during the three months before they became pregnant successfully quit smoking while pregnant. However, 43 percent of postpartum women return to smoking after approximately six months.
Smoking while pregnant can harm the child and mother. Quitting smoking increases babies’ oxygen intake and lung development, and decreases risk for premature birth, low birth weight and possible miscarriage.
Quitting disparities exist among certain populations, including in communities with lower income and education levels, racial and ethnic minority groups, those with mental health conditions and the LGBT community.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals have higher rates of tobacco use and lower quit attempt rates than the general population.
Rates of quit attempts and successfully quitting vary by racial and ethnic background. Among white, black, Hispanic and Asian-Americans, black Americans report the most interest in quitting, but have the lowest success rate. Asian-Americans have the highest quit rate and rate of success.
Additionally, evidence indicates that adult menthol smokers are less likely than non-menthol smokers to successfully quit smoking. The menthol flavoring makes cigarettes easier to smoke and harder to quit.
Most smokers who attempt to quit do so without counseling or medications — commonly called the “cold turkey” method — and are not successful. Only 3 to 5 percent of people quit for longer than six months using the cold turkey approach, according to quit-smoking experts. Many supports exist that can help people quit, including medications and counseling, which together can more than triple a smoker’s chance of quitting.
Some smokers have turned to e-cigarettes for help with quitting cigarettes. A recent report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine found that current evidence is limited regarding the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as quitting tools. Some of this uncertainty is likely driven by the relative newness of the products and the large variation in effective nicotine delivery within the product class. Also, no e-cigarette manufacturer has sought approval for use of a product as a quitting aid, so they are not sold with instructions or indications for quitting.
Although there is limited research currently supporting e-cigarette use for quitting, a smoker who switches completely to e-cigarettes from combustible cigarettes will substantially reduce exposure to toxic chemicals and health risk. There is also some evidence that more frequent e-cigarette use may increase an individual’s likelihood to quit. However, concurrent use — also called dual or poly use — of e-cigarettes and combustible tobacco is the most common e-cigarette use pattern among all age groups. Dual use can minimize harms only if such use is of limited duration and not on a long-term basis, leading to the timely quitting of all combustible product use.
So that consumers know which products might help them completely switch from combustible products or quit altogether, the FDA must fully regulate e-cigarettes and develop a properly incentivized pathway for products to be approved as quitting methods.
The Affordable Care Act requires most health insurance plans, including Medicaid expansion, individual insurance plans, small groups plans and employer-provided plans, to cover preventive services that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends. Health insurance plans are in compliance with this requirement if they cover the following without cost-sharing:
Evidence-based quit-smoking treatments lower smoking rates and save lives and money. Research demonstrates the effectiveness of asking about tobacco use, referring smokers to treatment and delivering direct quitting methods by a broad range of health care providers. A large body of research on quit-smoking treatments confirms that a combination of behavioral counseling, medication and social support is the most effective way to treat this deadly addiction. We also know that longer duration and comprehensive services and interventions are more successful in helping people quit. As a result, these services, which are relatively inexpensive, provide a strong return on investment.
Truth Initiative has helped hundreds of thousands of people on their journeys to become tobacco-free.
A free, digital quit-smoking program developed by Truth Initiative in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.
Learn MoreAn enterprise quit-smoking program designed for employers, health plans and health systems by Truth Initiative in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.
Learn MoreA quit-smoking mobile program with companion text messaging for young adults.
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