Discussions between health care providers and their patients who smoke cigarettes

Increasing tobacco screening in health care settings is a Healthy People 2020 objective. This report looks at adult cigarette smokers in the general household population and whether a doctor or other health professional had talked to them about their smoking in the past 12 months. About one-half of all adult cigarette smokers (51.2%) had a doctor or other health professional talk to them about their smoking. Cigarette smokers who were male, younger, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic Asian were less likely than those who were female, older, non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, or non-Hispanic other races/multiple races to have had a doctor or other health professional talk to them about their smoking. Despite the public health significance of reducing smoking among women who either are or may become pregnant, women of childbearing age (18-44 years) were no more likely than the population overall to have been talked to about their smoking. Nondaily smokers, smokers in good or better general health, and those without selected health conditions linked to smoking, were less likely than those who smoked daily, were in fair or poor health, or had selected health conditions linked to smoking to have had a doctor or other health professional talk to them about their smoking. Overall, results reveal that cigarette smokers are not all treated the same when it comes to health professionals talking to them about their smoking. Clinical practice guidelines suggest that tobacco interventions delivered in a timely manner can greatly reduce the risk that smokers will suffer from smoking-related diseases. The present results identify apparent gaps in the application of recommendations for the screening of cigarette smokers by health care professionals.