Abstract
IntroductionCigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature deaths in the U.S., accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths annually. Although smoking prevalence in recent decades has declined substantially among all racial/ethnic groups, disparities in smoking-related behaviors among racial/ethnic groups continue to exist. Two of the goals of Healthy People 2020 are to reduce smoking prevalence among adults to 12% or less and to increase smoking cessation attempts by adult smokers from 41% to 80%. Our study assesses whether correlates of quit attempts vary by race/ethnicity among adult (≥18 years) smokers in the U.S. Understanding racial/ethnic differences in how both internal and external factors affect quit attempts is important for targeting smoking-cessation interventions to decrease tobacco-use disparities.MethodsWe used 2003 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) data from 16,213 adults to examine whether the relationship between demographic characteristics, smoking behaviors, smoking policies and having made a quit attempt in the past year varied by race/ethnicity.ResultsHispanics and persons of multiple races were more likely to have made a quit attempt than whites. Overall, younger individuals and those with >high school education, who smoked fewer cigarettes per day and had smoked for fewer years were more likely to have made a quit attempt. Having a smoke-free home, receiving a doctor’s advice to quit, smoking menthol cigarettes and having a greater time to when you smoked your first cigarette of the day were also associated with having made a quit attempt. The relationship between these four variables and quit attempts varied by race/ethnicity; most notably receiving a doctor’s advice was not related to quit attempts among Asian American/Pacific Islanders and menthol use among whites was associated with a lower prevalence of quit attempts while black menthol users were more likely to have made a quit attempt than white non-menthol users.ConclusionsMost correlates of quit attempts were similar across all racial/ethnic groups. Therefore population-based comprehensive tobacco control programs that increase quit attempts and successful cessation among all racial/ethnic groups should be continued and expanded. Additional strategies may be needed to encourage quit attempts among less educated, older, and more addicted smokers.
Highlights
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature deaths in the U.S, accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths annually
Our study examines whether sex, age, education, region, number of cigarettes smoked per day, how many years smoked, time to first cigarette, menthol, having smoking policy at work, having a home smoking rule, and receiving doctor’s advice to quit correlate with quit attempts among smokers from different racial/ethnic groups in the United States
We examined the prevalence of having a quit attempt in the past year among the following racial/ethnic groups; non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, American Asian/Pacific
Summary
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature deaths in the U.S, accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths annually [1]. The relationship between using menthol cigarettes and cessation may vary by race/ethnicity with lower levels of quitting among blacks and Hispanics than among whites [22]. Smoke-free home rules and workplace smoke-free policies seem to encourage smokers to quit or reduce their cigarette consumption [30,31,32] These tobacco control policies vary by state and traditional tobacco-growing regions are less likely to have implemented these policies [33]. Our study examines whether sex, age, education, region, number of cigarettes smoked per day, how many years smoked, time to first cigarette, menthol, having smoking policy at work, having a home smoking rule, and receiving doctor’s advice to quit correlate with quit attempts among smokers from different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. If different relationships exist between particular age groups and cessation within different racial/ethnic groups more educational efforts and targeting of cessation resources to those age and race/ethnic specific groups who are less likely to make quit attempts can be done to increase their interest in making a quit attempt
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.