People with Low Socioeconomic Status Experience a Health Burden from Commercial Tobacco

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Commercial tobacco* gets in the way of achieving health equity for people with low socioeconomic status (SES), including those with low income.1 Currently, people with low SES suffer from health problems related to commercial tobacco product use and the burden is not shared evenly across all populations. For example:

  • People with lower income have higher incidence of commercial tobacco-related diseases than people with higher levels of income.2
  • Current tobacco product use prevalence is higher among adults who were uninsured (27.3%), enrolled in Medicaid (28.6%), or had some other public insurance (21.3%) compared to adults with private insurance (16.4%) or Medicare only (12.5%).3
  • Cigarette smoking causes about 80% to 90% of lung cancer deaths in the United States and people experiencing extreme poverty have higher lung cancer risk than those in higher SES groups.4 People with annual family incomes of less than $12,500 have higher lung cancer incidence than those with family incomes of $50,000 or more.5
  • People with low SES are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes.6 The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is 30 to 40% higher for people who smoke cigarettes than for people who don’t.7
*“Commercial tobacco” means harmful products that are made and sold by tobacco companies. It does not include “traditional tobacco” used by Indigenous groups for religious or ceremonial purposes.
Next Section: Unfair and Unjust Practices and Conditions Harm People with Low Socioeconomic Status and Drive Health Disparities >
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