Katherine Asman

Quitting Smoking Among Adults - United States, 2000-2015:

Quitting cigarette smoking benefits smokers at any age (1). Individual, group, and telephone counseling and seven Food and Drug Administration-approved medications increase quit rates (1-3). To assess progress toward the Healthy People 2020 objectives of increasing the proportion of U.S. adults who attempt to quit smoking cigarettes to ≥80.0% (TU-4.1), and increasing recent smoking cessation success to ≥8.0% (TU-5.1),* CDC assessed national estimates of cessation behaviors among adults aged ≥18 years using data from the 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). During 2015, 68.0% of adult smokers wanted to stop smoking, 55.4% made a past-year quit attempt, 7.4% recently quit smoking, 57.2% had been advised by a health professional to quit, and 31.2% used cessation counseling and/or medication when trying to quit. During 2000-2015, increases occurred in the proportion of smokers who reported a past-year quit attempt, recently quit smoking, were advised to quit by a health professional, and used cessation counseling and/or medication (p<0.05). Throughout this period, fewer than one third of persons used evidence-based cessation methods when trying to quit smoking. As of 2015, 59.1% of adults who had ever smoked had quit. To further increase cessation, health care providers can consistently identify smokers, advise them to quit, and offer them cessation treatments (2-4). In addition, health insurers can increase cessation by covering and promoting evidence-based cessation treatments and removing barriers to treatment access (2,4-6).

Epidemiology of menthol cigarette use in the United States.

BackgroundApproximately one-fourth of all cigarettes sold in the United States have the descriptor “menthol” on the cigarette pack. It is important to determine what socio-demographic factors are associated with smoking menthol cigarettes if indeed these types of cigarettes are related to smoking initiation, higher exposure to smoke constituents, nicotine dependence, or reduced smoking cessation.MethodsThe National Cancer Institute (NCI) conducted a review of the scientific literature on this topic which we completed by adding more recently published articles via PubMed. We also conducted further data analyses using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the National Youth Tobacco Survey, the Monitoring the Future Survey, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to provide up-to-date information on this topic.ResultsMenthol cigarettes are disproportionately smoked by adolescents, blacks/African Americans, adult females, those living in the Northeast of the United States and those with family incomes lower than

Linking quantity and frequency profiles of cigarette smoking to the presence of nicotine dependence symptoms among adolescent smokers: findings from the 2004 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

50,000. Based on self-reports of menthol cigarette use, menthol cigarette use among smokers have increased from 2004 to 2008. However, no increase was observed during these years for predominantly menthol brands like Newport™, Kool,™ and Salem™, however, this lack of significant trend may be due, at least in part, due to smaller numbers of smokers of specific brands or sub-brands, which provide estimates which are less precise.ConclusionMenthol cigarettes are disproportionately smoked by groups of U.S. cigarette smokers. It is likely that other disparities in menthol cigarette use exist that we have not covered or have not been studied yet.

Does a Race-Gender-Age Crossover Effect Exist in Current Cigarette Smoking Between Non-Hispanic Blacks and Non-Hispanic Whites? United States, 2001-2013:

INTRODUCTION Identifying trajectories of cigarette smoking based on usage patterns is important in elucidating the pathway from initiation to nicotine dependence. Various methods have been used to identify different smoking patterns based on either quantity or frequency smoked. METHODS This paper examines the link between smoking exposure and nicotine dependence symptoms while looking at both daily and less-than-daily smokers in a nationally representative sample. RESULTS Our study found a distinct pattern of cigarette smoking among adolescents aged 12-18 years, suggesting a trajectory in which smokers typically progressed through the following steps: smoking less than 1 cigarette on 1-5 days per month; smoking 1-5 cigarettes on 1-5, 6-9, 10-19, 20-29, and 30 days; and then smoking 6-10 cigarettes on 30 days, 11-20 on 30 days, and more than 20 on 30 days. Few smokers deviated from this pattern. A dose-response relationship was observed between this smoking pattern and having any of the four nicotine dependence symptoms and also with the number of reported nicotine dependence symptoms. DISCUSSION The relationship we found between smoking exposure and nicotine dependence symptoms is consistent with the homeostasis-sensitization theory: according to which sensitization involves periods in which a person is increasing the number of cigarettes smoked per day and homeostasis occurs when the number of cigarettes smoked per day remains stable. We provide data that can be used in future studies to update and expand the work on trajectories.

Are Adolescent Cigarette Smokers Who Use Smokeless Tobacco More Likely to Continue Smoking in the Future than Cigarette-Only Smokers: Results from Waves I and II of the Adolescent Health Survey

INTRODUCTION For years, national US surveys have found a lower prevalence of cigarette smoking among non-Hispanic (NH) black adolescents and young adults than their NH white counterparts while finding either similar or higher prevalence in NH blacks among older adults. We present results from four US surveys, including one supplemented by cotinine data, to determine if a race-gender-age crossover effect exists between NH black and NH white current cigarette smokers. METHODS We present NH black and NH white current cigarette smoking estimates in the National Youth Tobacco Survey (2004-2013), National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2002-2013), National Health Interview Survey (2001-2013), and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001-2012). RESULTS All surveys consistently found that NH black females aged 12-25 years had a lower smoking prevalence than NH white females of the same age while NH black males aged 26 years or older had a higher smoking prevalence than NH white males of the same age. Results were inconsistent between surveys for current smoking estimates for males 12-25 years and females aged 26 years or older. CONCLUSION Our results are inconclusive in consistently detecting the existence of a race-gender-age crossover effect for current cigarette smoking between NH blacks and NH whites. National birth cohort studies are better suited to detect a race-gender-age crossover effect in smoking prevalence between these two racial groups.

Tobacco use, cessation, and home smoking rules in a Hispanic community.

We explored whether dual use of smokeless and cigarettes among adolescents predicts continued smoking. Data came from Waves I (1994-95) and II (1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, using information from 3,284 Wave I current smokers. Multivariate models were used to assess whether use of smokeless tobacco at Wave I was associated with continuation of cigarette smoking at Wave II, controlling for possible confounders. The prevalence of current cigarette smoking at Wave 1 was 27.9%; among this group of adolescents and young adults, 14.5% also used smokeless tobacco. At Wave II, 73.6% of dual product users and 78.4% of cigarette-only users in Wave I reported continued smoking (OR=0.71 [95% CI 0.52–0.98]). Combined use of cigarette and smokeless tobacco does not appear to be related to continued smoking one year later. Longer-term followups are needed to determine the stability of this relationship for ≥1 year.

Cigarette smoking among adults and trends in smoking cessation --- United States, 2008

OBJECTIVE To determine prevalence of smoking, quit ratios, and home smoking rules among Hispanics residing in colonias in El Paso, Texas. METHODS Face-to-face interviews with 1485 Hispanic adults. GeoFrame™ field enumeration methods were used to develop a sampling frame from households in randomly selected colonias. RESULTS The overall percent of current cigarette smoking was 14.6% (95% CI 12.4 to 16.8); Over 55% of smokers reported a serious quit attempt. Participants overwhelmingly reported that smoking was not allowed in their homes. CONCLUSIONS Prevalence estimates for current smoking and restriction in the home were similar to those reported for recent national surveys.