Tobacco-Related Disparities in Specific Populations

Research

Disparities in children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the United States, 2007
A new study presented in the journal Pediatrics shows that 7.6% of American children were exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes in 2007, with significant disparities existing in particular geographic regions and among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups. Researchers used data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health and the 2006-2007 Current Population Survey – Tobacco Use Supplement to determine the prevalence of children’s exposure to secondhand smoke and of home smoking bans at the state level. The analysis showed that in 2007, 7.6% of U.S. children lived in households where someone smoked in the home, with levels ranging from 1.1% in Utah to 17.9% in West Virginia. When adjusting for socioeconomic status, children living in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania had twelve times higher odds of being exposed to secondhand smoke in the home than children in Utah. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, those of non-Hispanic white, black, American Indian, and mixed-race heritage, and children from English-speaking households were also at greater risk of secondhand smoke exposure. Read more here.

Differences in cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among American Indian and Alaska Native people living in Alaska and the Southwest United States
New data on tobacco use among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) in Alaska and the Southwestern U.S. show that while smoking rates vary considerably by region and tribe, the overall use of smokeless tobacco is much higher among AI/AN than in the general U.S. population. Data from the 2004-2006 Education and Research Towards Health Study were used to investigate current self-reported cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among AI/AN populations. Rates of use were more prevalent in Alaska than in the Southwest for both cigarette smoking (32% vs. 8%) and smokeless tobacco use (18% vs. 8%). Smoking was more common among respondents who were young, male, unmarried, and spoke only English in the home, while smokeless tobacco use was more common among those who were male, less educated, and spoke an AI/AN language at home. The results suggest that overall tobacco use rates in Alaska and the Southwest exceed those of the general U.S. population, indicating that more must be done to reduce tobacco use in these populations. Read the abstract, published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, here.

Disparate rates of persistent smoking and drug use during pregnancy of women of Hawaiian ancestry
New research has revealed that women of Hawaiian ancestry use cigarettes and illicit drugs during pregnancy at much higher rates than women of other ethnic groups in Hawaii. Investigators enrolled 868 women being admitted for delivery of their children, 22% of whom had at least partial Hawaiian ancestry. Smokers were defined as those reporting smoking within a week of admission, and drug use was assessed via self-report or toxicology tests, when available. Compared to women of other ethnic groups, those of Hawaiian ancestry had higher rates of both cigarette smoking (21% vs. 8.3%) and drug use (7.8% vs. 2.1%). Additionally, smoking was associated with a 3.4% decrease in birth weight and methamphetamine use was associated with a nearly five-fold increase in preterm births. The research demonstrates that disparities in tobacco and drug use, along with the associated complications and health outcomes, are still a problem for Hawaiian natives. Read the abstract, published in Ethnicity & Disease.

Higher nicotine levels in schizophrenia compared with controls after smoking a single cigarette
A new study in Nicotine & Tobacco Research indicates that smokers diagnosed with schizophrenia experience greater nicotine boosts than smokers without the disorder. Researchers took a series of twelve blood draws from each of 21 subjects (twelve schizophrenia patients and ten controls) before, during and after smoking a cigarette to examine patterns of blood nicotine concentrations. They found that the increase in blood nicotine during the first four minutes of smoking was higher in schizophrenic smokers, even though there was no difference in the time spent smoking. The difference in nicotine boost in this population may explain why there are particularly high levels of addiction and lower cessation rates in smokers with schizophrenia, compared with the general population. Click here to read more.

top

Back to Table of Contents