Although cigarettes are not as popular as in the past, a new study has found that cigarette smoking is still a common habit among most Americans in rural areas relative to urban areas. In addition, it is challenging for people in rural US to quit smoking relative to urban dwellers.
Most rural Americans smoke cigarettes more than urban dwellers
Yeshiva University, Indiana University and Rutgers University researchers found that 19.2 of rural Americans smoke cigarettes relative to only 14.4% in urban areas. The same percentage quit cigarette smoking in 2020, with quitting among rural Americans being 755 lower between 2010 and 2020.
Study co-author and deputy director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies Andrea Villanti said that Rural residents experience greater rates of smoking-related cancer rates and death than urban dwellers due to the higher cigarette smoking incidence and reduced cigarette quitting in rural communities. Therefore, tobacco cessation should be the focus of cancer prevention initiatives for rural populations.
The research evaluated data from the US Health and Human Services Department’s 2010-2020 National Survey on Drug Use. Only American individuals who met the criteria for lifetime cigarette smoking—at least 100 cigarettes smoked—were considered for the study. In addition, people were classified as “current smokers” if they had smoked at least one cigarette within the previous month or as “former smokers” if they had not smoked during the last 12 months.
Rural dwellers don’t have access to proper smoking cessation service
The researchers estimated the overall and annual quit ratios as a percentage of former smokers amongst lifetime smokers. The study discovered that 33.5% of the 161,348 lifelong cigarette smokers were ex-smokers.
According to the authors, the study results are consistent with the theory that there is a lingering urban/rural smoking discrepancy. This might be because, compared to urban dwellers, most rural folks don’t have as good of smoking cessation services access. Therefore, in order to successfully quit smoking, facilities like phone quit programs and telemedicine counselling should be rendered more widely accessible in rural parts of the United States.
