Clear Impact logo

Result 1: Improved Health Status for New Mexicans

P002: Percent of adults who smoke

Current Value

16.6%

2016

Definition

Line Bar

Story Behind the Curve

  • Adult smoking refers to the percentage of New Mexico adults who currently smoke cigarettes every day or some days.
  • Cigarette smoking is a leading preventable cause of disease and death in the U.S. and in New Mexico. People experiencing poverty (e.g., low-income, unemployed, Medicaid) smoke at significantly higher rates than other people and comprise most of the remaining smokers.
  • The rate of smoking among adults in New Mexico continues to decline, down from 17.5% (2015) to 16.6% (2016), an all-time low for this measure. Adult smoking has declined by 23% since 2011.
  • Factors contributing to the decline in smoking likely include ongoing promotion and use of QUIT NOW tobacco cessation services, expanded coverage and availability of cessation services under the Affordable Care Act, and continued societal shifts away from using cigarettes.
  • NMDOH will continue to promote and offer free tobacco cessation services through QUIT NOW and DEJELO YA (Spanish) and will continue recruiting and training health care providers statewide on brief tobacco interventions and referrals to QUIT NOW.

Partners

  • Optum Health (tobacco cessation services provider)
  • Media Matched (media contractor)
  • NMDOH Tobacco Use Prevention and Control (TUPAC) Evaluation Team
  • TUPAC Statewide Contractors
  • Health Care Providers
  • Federally-Qualified Health Centers and Other Clinics

What Works

The U.S. Guide to Community Preventive Services recommends the following interventions to reduce adult smoking:

  • Increasing the unit price of tobacco products.
  • Mass media campaigns in combination with other interventions.
  • Multi-component cessation interventions that include telephone support.
  • Health care provider reminder systems for tobacco cessation.
  • Reducing client out-of-pocket costs for cessation therapies.
  • Smoke-free policies to reduce tobacco use.

Strategy

  • Develop and implement a Health Systems Change Training and Outreach Program for Tobacco Use with New Mexico Community Health Centers (CHCs) to increase CHCs’ and their providers’ ability to consistently identify tobacco users.
  • Advise tobacco users to quit and refer those ready to make a quit attempt to appropriate treatment resources.

FY18 Annual Progress Summary

  • We are awaiting new adult smoking data from the 2017 calendar year.  Data from the previous year showed that adult smoking continued to decline, reaching an all-time low of 16.6% in 2016. Use of other tobacco products such as spit/chew tobacco, cigars, hookah, and e-cigarettes all remained relatively low (under 5%) among New Mexico adults.
  • NMDOH served an estimated 8,025 tobacco users, family/friends of tobacco users, and health care providers in FY18 through its QUIT NOW tobacco cessation services. Interest in quitting among smokers remains high. As many as 2 in 3 adults who smoke have made a quit attempt in the past month, indicating a continuing need for tobacco cessation services. Among QUIT NOW enrollees, nearly 1 in 3 are still successfully quit at their 7-month follow-up. The long history of QUIT NOW services, attention to continuous quality improvement, high awareness of its availability among tobacco users, and high satisfaction rates of its users all contribute to its success.

Clear Impact Suite is an easy-to-use, web-based software platform that helps your staff collaborate with external stakeholders and community partners by utilizing the combination of data collection, performance reporting, and program planning.

Scorecard Container Measure Action Actual Value Target Value Tag S A m/d/yy m/d/yyyy