Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2022 Jun;49(3):497-505. doi: 10.1177/10901981211004136. Epub 2021 Apr 17.
The majority of U.S. adults believe that smoking is a cause of lung cancer, but research suggests that the percentage of adults who believe smoking causes other types of cancers and chronic disease is lower. This study examines the correlates of beliefs about several established health effects of smoking in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Data for this study come from Wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study conducted from December 2016 to January 2018. Participants responded to questions assessing their beliefs about the health effects of smoking. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between beliefs about the health effects of smoking and sociodemographic characteristics (smoker status, age, sex, education, race/ethnicity), exposure to antitobacco campaigns, smokers' health, and nicotine dependence. The percentage of U.S. adults who endorsed a health effect can be caused from smoking ranged from 56.4% for blindness to 97.4% for lung disease. Respondents who were older, less educated, current or former smokers, and had less exposure to antitobacco campaigns were generally less likely ( < .05) to endorse that an established health effect was caused by smoking. Smokers with lower nicotine dependence and worse health were generally more likely ( < .05) to endorse that an established health effect was caused by smoking. In summary, knowledge about the health effects of smoking varies across health conditions. Public health would benefit from campaigns targeting segments of the population with less knowledge about the health effects of smoking.
大多数美国成年人认为吸烟是导致肺癌的原因，但研究表明，认为吸烟会导致其他类型癌症和慢性疾病的成年人比例较低。本研究在美国成年人的全国代表性样本中检查了对吸烟的几种已确立的健康影响的信念的相关性。这项研究的数据来自于 2016 年 12 月至 2018 年 1 月进行的人口烟草和健康评估研究的第 4 波。参与者回答了评估他们对吸烟健康影响的信念的问题。逻辑回归模型用于检查吸烟对健康影响的信念与社会人口统计学特征（吸烟状况、年龄、性别、教育、种族/民族）、接触反烟草运动、吸烟者健康和尼古丁依赖之间的关系。美国成年人中认为某种健康影响可以由吸烟引起的比例从 56.4%（失明）到 97.4%（肺病）不等。年龄较大、受教育程度较低、当前或曾经吸烟以及接触反烟草运动较少的受访者不太可能（<0.05）认为某种已确立的健康影响是由吸烟引起的。尼古丁依赖程度较低且健康状况较差的吸烟者更有可能（<0.05）认为某种已确立的健康影响是由吸烟引起的。总之，关于吸烟对健康影响的知识因健康状况而异。针对对吸烟对健康影响了解较少的人群开展宣传活动将使公共卫生受益。
