Prevalence of Current Cigarette Smoking by Sociodemographic Characteristics in U.S. Cancer Survivors

Abstract

Background

Cancer survivors are especially vulnerable to the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoking, but there lacks a study comprehensively examining the sociodemographic disparities in current smoking prevalence in this population. In this study, we quantified the current cigarette smoking prevalence in cancer survivors and those without cancer history by sociodemographic factors, to identify subpopulations with high current smoking burden.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 3,679 cancer survivors and 27,350 participants without cancer history who were 18 years of age or above in the 2019 National Health Interview Survey. Data for the study variables were obtained from computer-assisted personal or telephone interviews. Weighted Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

Results

Although the current smoking prevalence for cancer survivors was slightly lower than for those without cancer history, the prevalence exceeded 30% in cancer survivors in poverty or without health insurance. Individuals with significantly higher current smoking prevalence had lower education levels, were unmarried, did not have health insurance, or lived in poverty. The associations of age, sex, race, health insurance status, and poverty status with current smoking significantly differed between cancer survivors and those without cancer history. Sociodemographic disparities in current smoking prevalence were found in survivors of either smoking-related or nonsmoking-related cancers.

Conclusion

High current smoking prevalence still exists in subpopulations of cancer survivors and those without cancer history. Our findings may strengthen efforts to reduce sociodemographic disparities in current smoking prevalence and to lower the overall smoking prevalence.

Keywords:

• Cigarette smoking
• cancer survivors
• sociodemographic factors
• epidemiology

Authors’ contribution

Liza M. González Ruiz: Data curation; Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing-original draft; Writing—review and editing. Lía I. Mondragón Márquez: Writing—review and editing. Daniela L. Domínguez Bueso: Writing—review and editing. Jason J. Liu: Conceptualization; Formal analysis; Methodology; Supervision; Writing—original draft; Writing—review and editing.

Availability of data and material

Data for this study is available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/2019nhis.htm

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

This study analyzed data from a publicly available dataset, and therefore was exempt from Institutional Review Board approval.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for this study.