Effectiveness of tobacco control measures unequal across ethnic lines

Tobacco control efforts have reduced the number of smokers across the United States, but these initiatives have helped different segments of the population unevenly.

While tobacco control measures in the United States over the past few decades have generally worked for white smokers, other ethnic groups are still struggling, according to an analysis led by an Oregon State University researcher.

A US study on smoking among different population categories

The study, published on November 16, 2020 in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, compared cigarette consumption among different U.S. ethnic groups. On average, the number of cigarettes smoked per day decreased by about 30 percent between 1992 and 2019. However, the reduction in cigarette consumption was greater for non-Hispanic whites, indicating that tobacco control policies implemented over the past 25 years have benefited this group more than others, said Kari-Lyn Sakuma, lead author of the study and assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at OSU.

The researchers looked at changes over time in the number of cigarettes smokers reported smoking each day and the number of days they smoked, the number of people who started smoking for the first time, and the number of people who successfully quit smoking.

The origin of these disparities lies in the techniques of the tobacco industry.

Kari-Lyn Sakuma has been studying the impact of smoking on different ethnic groups for years. She believes that the tobacco industry has invested a lot of money in advertising and marketing their products, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods. It also invests significant funds to counter public health policies that could help protect communities.

Low-income neighborhoods have fewer resources to combat tobacco industry narratives, in part because most tobacco control measures start with local pressure (banning cigarette billboards near schools, for example). Sakuma says policymakers should prioritize public health initiatives that tailor their messages and outreach techniques to ethnic groups that have been disadvantaged by tobacco control measures in recent decades.