Although tobacco control measures have reduced overall smoking rates in the United States (from 42% in 1965 to 15% in 2015), a new report saysseveral vulnerable subpopulations continue to smoke at high rates. The report by American Cancer Society (ACS) investigators calls high rates of smoking among specific subpopulations one of the most pressing challenges facing the tobacco control community.
Investigators led by Jeffrey Drope, Ph.D., writing in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, say these populations include individuals in lower education and/or socioeconomic groups; from certain racial/ethnic groups; in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; with mental illness; and in the military, particularly among those in the lowest pay grades.