Financial strain and smoking cessation among racially/ethnically diverse smokers.

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the influence of financial strain on smoking cessation among Latino, African American, and Caucasian smokers of predominantly low socioeconomic status.

METHODS

Smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation study (N = 424) were followed from 1 week prequit through 26 weeks postquit. We conducted a logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between baseline financial strain and smoking abstinence at 26 weeks postquit after control for age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational level, annual household income, marital status, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and time to first cigarette of the day.

RESULTS

Greater financial strain at baseline was significantly associated with reduced odds of abstinence at 26 weeks postquit among those who completed the study (odds ratio [OR] = 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.62, 0.94; P = .01). There was a significant association as well in analyses that included those who completed the study in addition to those lost to follow-up who were categorized as smokers (OR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.64, 0.96; P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS

Greater financial strain predicted lower cessation rates among racially/ethnically diverse smokers. Our findings highlight the impact of economic concerns on smoking cessation and the need to address financial strain in smoking cessation interventions.