Financial Strain, Quit Attempts, and Smoking Abstinence Among U.S. Adult Smokers

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is substantially more prevalent and rates of smoking cessation are lower in low-SES adults. Financial strain may be one explanation for this. This study assessed the association between financial strain, quit attempts, and successful smoking cessation among adult smokers in the U.S. Longitudinal data on adult current smokers (aged ≥18 years) from Waves 1 and 2 of the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (2013-2015) were analyzed in 2017. Negative binomial regression and logistic regression models assessed the association between financial strain and (1) quit attempts and (2) cigarette abstinence, adjusting for important confounders. Smokers with financial strain made more quit attempts than smokers without financial strain (adjusted incidence-rate ratio=1.34, 95% CI=1.07, 1.68), but financial strain was not associated with smoking abstinence at follow-up (AOR=0.86, 95% CI=0.70, 1.05). Low income was associated with less smoking abstinence at follow-up (AOR=0.66, 95% CI=0.50, 0.87, for <100% federal poverty level; AOR=0.64, 95% CI=0.48, 0.85, for 100%-199% of federal poverty level). Smokers with baseline financial strain who quit at follow-up had lower odds of financial strain at follow-up (AOR=0.57, 95% CI=0.36, 0.89). Financially strained smokers made slightly more quit attempts than non-strained smokers but were no more likely to successfully quit. Low-income (less than 200% of the federal poverty level) smokers were less likely to quit than higher-income smokers, suggesting that financial strain alone may not explain the low quit rates in this population. Further efforts are needed to increase the success of quit attempts in low-income and financially strained smokers.