Differences in smoking prevalence by type of disability

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of death in the United States. The prevalence of cigarette smoking is substantially higher among people with disabilities than those without. However, there is scant information on the prevalence of smoking by type of disability. To fill this gap, we analyzed national surveillance data to quantify smoking prevalence by disability type. Data from the 2008 National Health Interview Survey were used to estimate smoking prevalence by disability type: basic actions difficulty, a chronic limitation in movement and sensory, emotional, or cognitive functioning; and complex activity limitation, a limitation in one's ability to participate fully in activities such as self-care, working and maintaining a household. Multivariate analyses were used to assess the effect of disability type on smoking prevalence. Adults with disabilities were significantly more likely than those without to smoke, (29.0% vs. 17.5%, p<.001). For those experiencing ‘basic actions difficulty'; prevalence (±95% CI) of smoking was 29.5% (±2.2%), 44.4% (± 4.4%), 30.2% (±2.5%), and 35.6% (±5.7%) respectively, for movement difficulty, emotional difficulty, sensory difficulty, and cognitive difficulty. Among those experiencing ‘complex activity limitation'; prevalence of smoking was 34.3% (±3.7%), 32.9% (±2.9%) and 31.2% (±5.5%) for social limitation, work limitation and self-care limitation respectively.

Providing effective cessation interventions is key to reducing cigarette smoking, especially in subpopulations with high rates of smoking. Although comprehensive tobacco control programs have been shown to decrease tobacco use in the United States, they remain underfunded. Thus, estimating smoking prevalence by disability type can assist in allocating scarce resources.