Use of Nicotine Products, Prescription Drug Products, and Other Methods to Stop Smoking by US Adults in the 2022 National Health Interview Survey

Abstract Recent data on methods used by adults to stop smoking can inform tobacco control policies. Nationally representative Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (N=27,651) were used to analyze populations of US adults who self-reported having stopped smoking cigarettes for 6 months or longer in the last year and the methods they used, or who did not stop smoking but tried in the last year (n=1,735). In 2022, an estimated 2.9 million [95% CI:2.5 million–3.2 million] US adults had stopped smoking in the past year. Most were male, non-Hispanic White, aged <55 years, college-educated, identified as straight, were not depressed, and currently drank alcohol. The most popular methods used to stop smoking were nicotine products (53.9% [47.4%–60.3%]; 1.5 [1.3– 1.8] million adults), especially e-cigarettes in combination with other methods (40.8% [34.4%– 47.5%]; 1.2 [0.9–1.4] million) and e-cigarettes alone (26.0% [20.4%–32.3%]; 0.7 [0.6–0.9] million). Prescription drug products (8.1% [5.3%–11.8%]; 0.2 [0.1–0.3] million) and non-nicotine, non-prescription drug methods (6.3% (3.9%–9.7%); 0.2 [0.1–0.3] million) were less popular. A further 13.1 [12.2–14.0] million tried but did not stop smoking. Compared to those who tried but didn’t stop smoking, those who successfully stopped were more likely to be younger, degree-educated, and to use e-cigarettes to stop smoking. Many adults still attempt to stop smoking unaided. Interventions to reduce smoking could focus on populations that stopped smoking the least and encourage use of evidence-based methods. Competing Interest Statement An early version of this research was presented in poster form at the 2024 Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) annual meeting (https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/2yuw4). The authors thank anonymous reviewers and participants at the 2024 SRNT meeting for helpful comments and suggestions. F.F. thanks Mark Sembower of Pinney Associates for discussion. This work received no financial support. The authors declare the following potential conflicts of interests: F.F. provides consulting services through Pinney Associates on tobacco harm reduction to Juul Labs Inc, which had no involvement in this article. As of October 2024, Pinney Associates also consults to Philip Morris International solely on US regulatory pathways for non-combustible, non-tobacco, nicotine products, which also had no involvement in this article. Pinney Associates does not consult on combustible tobacco products. R.N. has received grant and contractual funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration; served as a paid consultant to the Government of Canada via a contract with Industrial Economics Inc; received an honorarium for a virtual meeting from Pfizer Inc; received other NIDA grants paid to his employers; received salary from the Steven Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at The Legacy Foundation, now Truth Initiative, New York University School of Global Public Health; and communicated with Juul Labs personnel, for which there was no compensation, and received hospitality in the form of meals at some meetings; none of which supported the work reported here. The Progressive Policy Institute sponsored a trip (travel and lodging) for R.N. to present a paper at a symposium: Can e-cigarettes help tobacco cigarette smokers quit? A review of the evidence, Tobacco Harm Reduction - an Update, 54th annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology, jointly held with the 34th annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Clinical Neuropsychopharmacology and the 35th World Congress Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2024; no honorarium, consulting fee or other payment was provided. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Only publicly available, de-identified survey data were used; therefore, this study is exempt from NIH human subjects research under NIH exemption 4 and did not require institutional review board review. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Footnotes Expanded data analysis including statistical tests, new table columns, and a new data table; expanded discussion. Data Availability Data are available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/index.htm