Examining Menthol Preference as a Correlate of Change in Cigarette Smoking Behavior over a One-Year Period.

Danielle R Davis,Cristine D Delnevo,Maria A Parker,Andrea C Villanti

doi:10.3390/ijerph182010878

Abstract

Menthol cigarette use has been shown to be a contributing factor in the changes in smoking over time among youth. The current study aim was to use prospective survey data to identify if menthol cigarette use was associated with changes in smoking among adults. A representative cohort from the 2010 U.S. Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey was interviewed at two time points one year apart. Respondents were past-30-day cigarette smokers at Wave 1 or Wave 2 categorized by menthol vs. non-menthol flavor preference (n = 3668). Trajectories were categorized as maintained, increased, or decreased smoking behavior between Waves. Multinomial logistic regressions examined if menthol cigarette use was associated with an increase/decrease in smoking behavior, adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and sex. Menthol cigarette use was not associated with change over time in cigarette smoking in adult smokers. Age, race/ethnicity and sex were associated with changes in cigarette smoking. Young (vs. older) adults were more likely to increase smoking. Black and Hispanic smokers (vs. white smokers) were more likely to report any change in smoking. Males were less likely than females to change smoking behavior. Menthol status was not associated with changes in smoking among adults; however, young age, race/ethnicity, and sex were, suggesting populations to target for intervention.

Highlights

Menthol smokers had a significantly lower CPD, but no difference in time to first cigarette (TTFC) (Table 1). 37.6% of the sample was categorized as maintaining smoking behavior, 36.8% as decreasing smoking behavior, and 25.6% was categorized as increasing smoking behavior
While prior studies have addressed the influence of menthol cigarettes on smoking behavior patterns in youth/young adults, our study extended examinations into adult cigarette smokers prospectively over a one-year time period
Our measures captured change over time among established smokers (>100 lifetime cigarettes); while this is a standard threshold for established cigarette smoking in adults, it differs from the prior work on this topic in youth and young adults, which used less restrictive measures of smoking, including past 30-day use [13], ever smoking with some past month cigarette use [12], or a 100-cigarette lifetime threshold at Wave 2 and queried Wave

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Menthol cigarettes represent a growing proportion of the cigarette market, even as overall smoking prevalence declines [1,2]. Menthol cigarette use is higher among female, non-white, and youth and young adult populations [1,3,4,5]. Evidence suggests menthol cigarettes contribute to youth cigarette smoking initiation and reduced adult cessation [6,7,8,9]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion