Tobacco use and dependence in Asian Americans: a review of the literature

Abstract

This article reports on an integrative review of literature on Asian American tobacco use and dependence, identifies gaps in the literature, and proposes studies needed in the future. Articles were retrieved from electronic health-related databases indexed for permutations of the keywords Asian Americans, smoking, tobacco use, tobacco dependence, and nicotine dependence. A manual search also was done to identify additional literature. A total of 216 articles were identified; the review includes 39 articles reporting gender- and ethnic-specific information on subgroups of Asian Americans in the following areas: Smoking prevalence, correlates of smoking, and tobacco dependence treatment. In addition, 13 articles on tobacco and nicotine metabolism were reviewed. Empirical studies have concentrated on Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American men. Smoking prevalence is higher among Asian American men with low acculturation than among their counterparts, but the reverse pattern is observed among Asian American women. Asian Americans tend to smoke fewer cigarettes per day than White Americans, and this difference may be explained by differences between the two groups in nicotine metabolism. More research is needed on this diverse population, especially Asian American women of all ethnic subgroups and Asian Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, and Thai American men. A need also exists for the development of specialized tobacco dependence treatments to address the cultural issues of specific Asian American ethnic subgroups, to enhance access to treatment, and to determine how treatment recommendations should reflect differences in acculturation level and tobacco and nicotine metabolism.