Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
Institute for Health and Aging, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2017 Nov 7;19(12):1450-1464. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntw215.
Few studies have examined the relationship between menthol use and smoking cessation across various racial/ethnic groups; the findings were mixed. This study explored the association of menthol cigarette use with quit attempts, smoking cessation, and intention-to-quit among US adults and by race/ethnicity.
Using the 2006/2007 and 2010/2011 Tobacco Use Supplements to the Current Population Survey data, this study analyzed 54 448 recent active smokers, defined as current smokers or former smokers who quit less than 12 months ago. Three behaviors were examined: any quit attempts in the past 12 months, successful cessation for ≥3 months, and intention-to-quit smoking in the next 6 months. For each cessation behavior, multiple logistic regression models were estimated separately for the full-sample and stratified racial/ethnic subsamples.
While 72.3% of African American recent active smokers typically smoked menthol cigarettes, this proportion was 21.7%, 21.5%, and 28.0% for whites, Asians, and Hispanics, respectively. African American menthol smokers had higher odds of quit attempts compared to non-African American, non-menthol smokers (full-sample analysis), as well as African American non-menthol smokers (subsample analysis). Menthol use was not significantly associated with quit attempts in other racial/ethnic subsamples. There was no significant difference in either successful cessation or intention-to-quit between menthol and non-menthol smokers.
African American menthol smokers were more likely to attempt to quit smoking than non-menthol smokers but these quit attempts did not translate into successful cessation. This study revealed no association of menthol use with quit attempts, successful cessation, and intention-to-quit among other racial/ethnic groups.
The findings suggested that African American menthol smokers were more motivated to quit smoking; yet, the results also indicated no significant differences in successful cessation between African American menthol and non-menthol smokers. Interventions targeting menthol smokers within the African American community may help bridge this gap. While more local sales restrictions are beginning to occur (eg, Tobacco 21 efforts), additional policies restricting price discounting as well as the regulation of access to and the time, place, and/or manner of menthol tobacco advertising could also improve cessation rates. Further evaluation is needed to determine the viability of these policies.
很少有研究探讨薄荷醇使用与不同种族/族裔群体戒烟之间的关系；研究结果喜忧参半。本研究探讨了美国成年人中薄荷烟使用与戒烟尝试、戒烟成功和戒烟意愿之间的关系，并按种族/族裔进行了分层分析。
本研究使用 2006/2007 年和 2010/2011 年《当前人口调查》烟草使用补充调查数据，分析了 54448 名最近活跃的吸烟者，定义为过去 12 个月内仍在吸烟或戒烟不足 12 个月的前吸烟者。本研究考察了三种行为：过去 12 个月内任何戒烟尝试、戒烟 3 个月以上且成功、未来 6 个月内有戒烟意愿。对于每种戒烟行为，分别对全样本和按种族/族裔分层的子样本进行了多变量逻辑回归模型估计。
虽然 72.3%的非裔美国最近活跃吸烟者通常吸薄荷烟，但这一比例在白人、亚裔和西班牙裔中分别为 21.7%、21.5%和 28.0%。非裔美国薄荷烟吸烟者与非非裔美国、非薄荷烟吸烟者相比，戒烟尝试的可能性更高（全样本分析），与非非裔美国、非薄荷烟吸烟者相比（子样本分析）也是如此。薄荷醇使用与其他种族/族裔亚组的戒烟尝试均无显著关联。在戒烟成功或戒烟意愿方面，薄荷烟和非薄荷烟吸烟者之间没有显著差异。
非裔美国薄荷烟吸烟者比非薄荷烟吸烟者更有可能尝试戒烟，但这些戒烟尝试并没有转化为成功戒烟。本研究表明，薄荷醇使用与其他种族/族裔群体的戒烟尝试、戒烟成功和戒烟意愿均无关联。在非裔美国社区针对薄荷烟吸烟者开展的干预措施可能有助于缩小这一差距。虽然越来越多的地方开始限制薄荷烟销售（如“烟草 21 法案”），但还需要实施更多的政策来限制价格折扣，并对薄荷烟广告的获取途径、时间、地点和/或方式进行监管，这也可能会提高戒烟率。需要进一步评估这些政策的可行性。
