Menthol Cigarette Smoking among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults in the United States

Background: Menthol can mask the harshness and taste of tobacco, making menthol cigarettes easier to use and increasing their appeal among youth and other vulnerable populations.The tobacco industry has targeted youth, women, and minorities with menthol cigarettes, and studies indicatethese groups smoke menthol cigarettes at higher rates. The industry has also targeted the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) communities with menthol cigarette marketing.To date, no study has assessed the prevalence of menthol smoking among U.S. LGBT adults, who have disproportionately high overall cigarette smoking rates.

 Methods: used data from the 2009-2010 National Adult Tobacco Survey, anational telephone survey of non-institutionalized U.S. adults aged ≥18, to compare menthol smoking between LGBT (n=2,431) and heterosexual/straight (n=110,841)adults. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression adjusted for sex, age, race, and education.

 Results: Among all current cigarette smokers, 29.6% reported that the cigarettes they usually smoked in the past 30 days were menthol.Menthol use was significantly higher among LGBT smokers, with 36.3% reporting that the cigarettes they usually smoked were menthol compared to 29.3% of heterosexual/straight smokers (p<0.05); this difference was particularly prominent among LGBT females (42.9%) compared to heterosexual/straight females (32.4%) (p<0.05). Following adjustment, LGBT smokers had greater odds of usually smoking menthol cigarettes than heterosexual/straight smokers (odds ratio: 1.31; 95% confidence interval: 1.09-1.58).

Conclusion: These findings suggest that efforts to reduce menthol cigarette use could help reduce the health and economic burden of cigarette smoking among LGBT adults and reduce health disparities.