Estimating the prevalence of disability among adults in the USA who smoke cigarettes, 2019-2023.

Background: Cigarette smoking is associated with adverse health outcomes in people with and without disabilities. However, little is known about disability prevalence among people who smoke. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of disability and severity of functional difficulties among adults who smoke cigarettes.

Methods: Univariate testing was used to analyse data from the 2019-2023 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to estimate the prevalence of disability and severity of functional difficulties - including vision, hearing, mobility, self-care, and communication - among adults who currently smoke, formerly smoked, or never smoked cigarettes - and analyse disability prevalence among adults who currently smoke by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and education.

Results: During 2019-2023, estimates for any disability were significantly higher for adults who currently and formerly smoked compared with those who never smoked (p<0.05). The prevalence of reporting a disability was more than twice as high among adults who currently smoke (14.1%) compared with those who never smoked (6.8%) and 1.5 percentage points higher compared with those who formerly smoked (12.6%). The prevalence of vision, hearing, mobility and cognitive disability were 2.0 to 2.4 times higher among adults who currently smoke compared with those who never smoked. Disability prevalence among adults who currently smoke was 16.5% among women and 12.1% among men. Among age groups, prevalence ranged from 21.6% among adults 65+ to 8.7% among adults 25-44. For race and ethnicity, it ranged from 19.0% among non-Hispanic Others to 11.1% among Hispanics. By educational level, prevalence ranged from 21.4% among those with less than a high school degree to 7.6% among college graduates.

Conclusion: Given that one in seven people who currently smoke has a disability, public health programmes might consider the needs of those with disabilities when designing smoking prevention and treatment programmes.