A population-based examination of racial and ethnic differences in receiving physicians' advice to quit smoking.

School of Social Work and AOD Initiatives Research, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92120, USA. mreed@projects.sdsu.edu

We examined the rate of physician-delivered smoking cessation advice in the United States over time for five different racial/ethnic groups. We analyzed three waves (1992--1993, 1995--1996, 1998--1999) of population-based survey data (Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey) to examine the relationship between a smoker's race/ethnicity and past-year receipt of physician-delivered smoking cessation advice. Results of a multivariate logistic regression showed no difference in the receipt of advice as a function of a smoker's race/ethnicity in any of the surveys, with the exception of 1998--1999, after controlling for factors such as smoker's gender, years of education, household income, and cigarettes smoked per day. In the 1998--1999 survey, Asian smokers were more likely to report receiving smoking cessation advice from a physician relative to non-Hispanic White smokers. With the exception of American Indian/Alaska Native smokers, the receipt of advice by each racial/ethnic group increased significantly from the 1992--1993 survey to the 1998--1999 survey, after controlling for gender, age, education, and cigarettes smoked per day. Because rates of advice for American Indian/Alaska Native smokers did not increase over time, specific public health interventions should be developed and integrated into medical settings serving smokers from American Indian/Alaska Native communities.

PMID: 19023840 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]