Although Cigarette Use is Down, Nicotine Addiction is Up
Despite recent declines in cigarette smoking in the US, nicotine dependence has remained steady among adults and has actually increased in some groups. This finding suggests that public health initiatives have been more successful in preventing Americans from smoking than in persuading heavy smokers to stop.
Previous studies have found that since the 1964 US Surgeon General’s report, the number of people who smoke cigarettes has declined. Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health take this research a step further by distinguishing occasional smokers from heavy smokers.
“Regular, heavy cigarette use frequently characterizes nicotine dependence and is the pattern of use thought to be most detrimental to health and longevity, but it has not been addressed in previous estimates of the decline of smoking prevalence,” said Renee Goodwin, Ph.D., associate professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and principle investigator of the study.
“Rather, earlier research mainly addressed tobacco use or cigarette smoking per se rather than examining the frequency and duration of cigarette use in detail,” she explained.
The new study finds not only that the number of American who are dependent on nicotine has remained steady over the past several decades, but also that the proportion of smokers who are currently addicted to nicotine is greater than in previous generations. Dr. Goodwin suggests that this could be because of anti-cigarette campaigns.
Smoking has been far more common among men than women for most of the past 40 years, but recent evidence shows that the gender gap has narrowed, and the current study finds increases in smoking women in several recent generations.
Socioeconomic status is thought to be another factor in cigarette use. The current study finds that younger women living in poverty had the highest rates of nicotine dependency compared with older generations and those not living in poverty. This suggests that despite increases in taxes and cigarette costs, those who are most vulnerable are still affected.
“Passage of this month’s law governing the regulation of tobacco products and its focus on preventing smoking initiation among children is important and timely as our findings suggest that the number of people who still smoke is considerable,” said Dr. Goodwin. “Hopefully this legislation will help reduce the number addicted to nicotine in future generations since never smoking is the only sure way to prevent the development of nicotine dependence.”
She continued, “Given the mounting evidence that nicotine dependence plays a crucial role in smoking patterns, there is no question that future studies on curbing cigarette use need to take nicotine dependence into account.”
Tags: tobacco, Types of Addiction
