This study describes changes in the distribution of cigarette smoking and in physicians' advice to quit smoking among the U.S. population with and without diabetes from the mid-1970s to 1990.
Data on self-reported smoking status, physicians' advice to quit smoking, history of diabetes, and demographic characteristics were obtained from the 1974, 1985, and 1990 National Health Interview Surveys. We examined the age-adjusted prevalence of smoking and physicians' advice to quit smoking by race, sex, and educational level among individuals with diabetes and those without diabetes.
The prevalence of smoking decreased 9.8 percentage points from 1974 to 1990 among individuals with diabetes (from 35.6 to 25.8%, P < 0.01) and 11.7 percentage points among those without diabetes (from 37.3 to 25.6%, P < 0.01). For all years, younger individuals, men, and people with less than a high school education were more likely to smoke, regardless of diabetes status. Among individuals who had ever smoked, those with diabetes were more likely to have received advice to quit than those without diabetes; from 1974 to 1990, the percentage advised to quit smoking by a physician increased from 35.1 to 58.4% for smokers with diabetes and from 26.8 to 46.0% for smokers without diabetes.
Despite decreases in smoking prevalence over time, people with diabetes are still as likely to smoke as those without diabetes. More than 40% of smokers with diabetes currently report never having received advice from a physician to quit smoking. Health care providers should increase their efforts to reduce smoking among people with diabetes.
