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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Giang T. Nguyen, MD, MPH, Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 2 Gates Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215) 615-0355, nguyeng@uphs.upenn.edu

Tobacco use is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality from cancer and heart disease. While Asian Americans as a whole have lower smoking rates than the general US population, those Asians who do smoke still require attention so that they might quit smoking. Moreover, disparities in tobacco use between subgroups of the highly diverse Asian American population still require further investigation. METHODS: This analysis uses data from the 2004 Southeast Pennsylvania Community Health Database, a population-based health survey that over-sampled Asians and also collected demographic information on Asian subgroups (n=10,152 adults). Appropriate survey sampling techniques and weighting were used in the calculations, which included descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Among current smokers who were White, Black, Latino, or other non-Asian, between 50 and 60% reported having been counseled by a doctor to quit smoking in the past year. Meanwhile, only about one third of current Asian smokers reported such tobacco counseling. This difference remained significant after controlling for age, sex, education, self-reported health, and healthcare access (insurance, regular source of care). Among men, Vietnamese had higher current smoking rates than Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Chinese, Asian Indians, and other Asians. DISCUSSION: Clinicians need to identify Asian smokers and improve rates of tobacco counseling for these patients. Providers with Vietnamese male patients need to be particularly attentive to issues of tobacco use in this high-risk population. More population-based studies should address the question of tobacco use and tobacco counseling in Asians and Asian subgroups.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe differences in physician tobacco counseling between Asian and non-Asian smokers in a population-based study.
• Describe disparities in tobacco use among Asian subgroups in a population-based study.
• Discuss implications of these disparities and strategies to reduce them.

Keywords: Tobacco, Communication

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered