A Survey of Attendees at Native American Health Care Conferences: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Cigarette Smoking

Abstract

Cigarette smoking rates and related health consequences among Native Americans are the highest of any US ethnic group. A sample of the attendees at American Indian and Alaska Native health care conferences participated in a survey about cigarette smoking. Of 162 respondents, 11.1% were current smokers, 7.5% of physicians were current smokers, and 80% were lifelong nonsmokers. The majority would ask a smoker to put out cigarettes and would not display ashtrays at home. Nearly all Native American physicians asked their patients about smoking and advised smokers to quit. Respondents were more likely to agree that smoking causes lung cancer (98.7%) as compared to knowing of the associations of smoking with cervical cancer (70.2%), depression (54.5%), and that it is more serious in women (55.2%; P < .01). Current smoking rates were low, and the physicians advised smokers to quit. However, there was less awareness about women's health problems that relate to cigarette smoking as compared to other health consequences of smoking.