title: Impact of Menthol Smoking on Nicotine Dependence for Diverse Racial/Ethnic Groups of Daily Smokers.
abstract: Introduction: The aims of this study were to evaluate whether menthol smoking and race/ethnicity are associated with nicotine dependence in daily smokers.Methods: The study used two subsamples of U.S. daily smokers who responded to the 2010-2011 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey. The larger subsample consisted of 18,849 non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB), and Hispanic (HISP) smokers. The smaller subsample consisted of 1112 non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN), non-Hispanic Asian (ASIAN), non-Hispanic Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (HPI), and non-Hispanic Multiracial (MULT) smokers.Results: For larger (smaller) groups the rates were 45% (33%) for heavy smoking (16+ cig/day), 59% (51%) for smoking within 30 min of awakening (Sw30), and 14% (14%) for night-smoking. Overall, the highest prevalence of menthol smoking corresponded to NHB and HPI (≥65%), followed by MULT and HISP (31%-37%), and then by AIAN, NHW, and ASIAN (22%-27%) smokers. For larger racial/ethnic groups, menthol smoking was negatively associated with heavy smoking, not associated with Sw30, and positively associated with night-smoking. For smaller groups, menthol smoking was not associated with any measure, but the rates of heavy smoking, Sw30, and night-smoking varied across the groups.Conclusions: The diverse associations between menthol smoking and nicotine dependence maybe due to distinction among the nicotine dependence measures, i.e., individually, each measure assesses a specific smoking behavior. Menthol smoking may be associated with promoting smoking behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, 6900 Lake Nona Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827, USA. julia.soulakova@ucf.edu.
authors.forename: Julia N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Soulakova
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 340 Hardin Hall-North, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA. ryandanczak21@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ryan R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Danczak
keywords: cigarette flavoring; every day smoker; national survey; population-based study; smoking behaviors; smoking status