Tobacco use, cessation and home smoking rules in a Hispanic/Latino border community

Objective: To determine prevalence of smoking, quit ratios, discussion with a health care provider about smoking and smoking rules in the home among Hispanics residing in colonias in El Paso, Texas. Comparisons with national and state estimates for Hispanics and Latinos will be presented.Methods: Promotoras (outreach workers) conducted face-to-face interviews with 1485 Hispanic adults (July 2007–April 2008). GeoFrame™ field enumeration methods were used to develop a sampling frame from households in randomly selected colonias in El Paso, Texas. Results: The overall percent of current cigarette smoking was 14.6%; current cigarette smoking among men was 22.5% and 10.2% among women. Men and women, who were either current smokers or who had quit for six months or less, were equally likely to report that a health care provider had talked to them about smoking. More than half of the male smokers (55.2%) and almost two thirds of female smokers (61.7%) reported a serious quit attempt in the past 12 months. Both men and women overwhelmingly reported that smoking was not allowed anywhere or at any time in their homes (85.1%-88.7%). However, 25% of the homes that participated in the study had at least 1 smoker living in the house. Conclusions: Prevalence estimates obtained from the current survey are similar to those found in national estimates for this ethnic group. Information on physician advice concerning smoking and cessation from this survey was higher than reports from other surveys. Estimates of smoke-free homes appear to be similar to national surveys.