Racial/ethnic disparities in report of physician-provided smoking cessation advice: analysis of the 2000 National Health Interview Survey.
OBJECTIVE
We explored racial/ethnic disparities in reports of smoking cessation advice among smokers who had visited a physician in the previous year. Also, we examined the likelihood of receipt of such advice across Hispanic subgroups and levels of English proficiency.


METHODS
We analyzed data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey.


RESULTS
Nearly half of the 5652 respondents reported receiving smoking cessation advice from their doctor. Compared with Hispanics, and after control for a range of other factors, respondents in the non-Hispanic White (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.2, 2.0), non-Hispanic Black (adjusted OR=1.44, 95% CI=1.0, 2.0), and other non-Hispanic (adjusted OR=2.19, 95% CI=1.3, 3.6) groups were significantly more likely to report receiving advice. English proficiency was not associated with receipt of physician advice among Hispanic smokers.


CONCLUSIONS
Some 16 million smokers in the United States could not recall receiving advice to quit smoking from their physician in the preceding year. These missed opportunities, compounded by racial/ethnic disparities such as those observed between Hispanics and other groups and between Hispanic subgroups, suggest that considerably greater effort is needed to diminish the toll stemming from smoking and smoking-related diseases.
Lopez-Quintero
Catalina
C
Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.
Crum
Rosa M
RM
Neumark
Yehuda D
YD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D003376:Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology