Socioeconomic disparities in tobacco-related health outcomes across racial/ethnic groups in the United States: National Health Interview Survey 2010

Abstract

Introduction: Existing research documents strong inverse socioeconomic gradients in current smoking and lung cancer morbidity and mortality; these gradients appear stronger among non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks compared with Hispanics. We sought to examine a broader range of outcomes across the tobacco use continuum, examining socioeconomic gradients separately among the 3 largest racial/ethnic groups in the United States.

Methods: We used data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey (n = 17,284) Cancer Control Supplement to calculate prevalences and means for outcomes across the tobacco use continuum by educational attainment and income separately among non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic/Latino, and non-Hispanic White adults.

Results: Findings demonstrate that current smoking, age at initiation, cigarettes per day, years quit, and secondhand smoke all exhibit strong inverse educational gradients and moderately strong inverse income gradients, especially among Whites and Blacks. Hispanics/Latinos generally have more favorable outcomes along the tobacco use continuum and less evident socioeconomic gradients.

Conclusions: Educational attainment is strongly associated with indicators across the tobacco use continuum among non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks. More research is needed to determine whether policies and programs to increase educational attainment may also reduce tobacco-related health disparities.