The smoking population in the USA and EU is softening not hardening.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It has been argued that as smoking prevalence declines in countries, the smokers that remain include higher proportions of those who are unwilling or unable to quit (a process known as 'hardening'). Smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes have been promoted as a strategy to deal with such smokers. If hardening is occurring, there would be a positive association between smoking prevalence and quitting, with less quitting at lower prevalence. There would also be a neutral or negative association between prevalence and the number of cigarettes smoked.

Methods

We examined US state-level associations using the Tobacco Use Supplement (1992/1993-2010/2011) and Eurobarometer surveys for 31 European countries (2006-2009-2012) using regressions of quit attempts, quit ratios, and

SUBMITTER: Kulik MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4690792 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature