Characteristics of US adult occasional smokers and their use of other tobacco products

Abstract:

Background: The prevalence of occasional cigarette smoking among adult smokers is increasing, yet few studies have considered the role that the use of other tobacco products may play in determining whether a smoker smokes daily or not.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 1998, 2000, 2005, and 2010 National Health Interview Survey Cancer Control Supplements. Occasional and daily smokers were compared by socioeconomic characteristics and other tobacco use (cigars, snuff, and chewing tobacco) using the chi-square test.  Multivariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between occasional smoking and other tobacco product use, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics.

Results: Among all US adults, 4.2% were occasional smokers and 17.6% were daily smokers.  Among smokers, 19.0% were occasional smokers.  After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, male daily snuff users were more likely to be occasional cigarette smokers than nonsnuff users.  Male former snuff users and female current cigar users were less likely to be occasional cigarette smokers than those who didn’t use snuff or cigars.  For both male and female smokers, the odds of being an occasional smoker were greater in 2010 than 1998, and differed by age, race/ethnicity, and education. For women, there were also differences by income, region, and marital status.

Conclusion: Occasional smoking differs by sociodemographic characteristics and is related to snuff use among men and cigar use among women, after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics.  It is important to understand how the use of different tobacco products impacts occasional smoking in order to design effective tobacco control policies.