卫生官员, nonprofits need to do more to curb smoking rates among certain groups

Melvin Stubbs knows smoking cigarettes could give him heart disease, lung cancer or kill him. 他说，他的习惯伤害了他的妻子和父母，他们经常敦促他戒烟.

“这是我每天都在挣扎的一件事,斯塔布斯说, 38, 抽了将近二十年的烟. “You know if you don’t stop how many loved ones will be upset if something happened to you.”

孟菲斯的零售经理, Tennessee is among the estimated 38 million American adults who smoke cigarettes because they’ve tried to quit but couldn’t, 因为他们喜欢它，或者因为他们是第一次尝试.

而美国.S. cigarette smoking rate has declined dramatically since it its peak in the mid 1960s, 在一些群体中，这一比例仍然很高.

美国原住民和阿拉斯加原住民, 非裔美国人, 女同性恋, 同性恋和双性恋成年人的吸烟率最高, 根据疾控中心最近的一份报告. 在穷人和受教育程度低的人群中，肥胖率也很高.

吸烟的后果可能是致命的.

约480,每年有1000名美国人死于吸烟和二手烟, 根据疾病控制和预防中心. 吸烟还与高血压和糖尿病有关, 有两种情况会导致心脏病, 无. 美国人的头号杀手. About one-quarter of heart disease and stroke deaths are related to cigarette smoking, 根据联邦数据.

“这是一种非常严重的上瘾, 这几乎就像对可卡因上瘾一样,Aruni Bhatnagar说, a co-director of the 美国心脏协会’s Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center. “尼古丁不是一种容易摆脱的物质.”

Although prevention and cessation initiatives and regulations have helped people quit, 他说, “We now need to focus our prevention efforts into targeting these subcultures [with high smoking rates].”

Radeanna梳, 纳瓦霍族的健康教育工作者, 在缺乏戒烟计划的部落社区培养人际关系. For prevention to succeed, s他说, “It’s important to plan programs that are culturally relevant.”

For instance, there are materials that may challenge sacred tribal customs that include tobacco use. She’s mindful of that when sharing information about the harmful effects of nicotine, 在烟草植物中发现的强效且令人上瘾的兴奋剂.

While the statistics by race and ethnicity offer a glimpse of who smokes in America, heart disease and stroke researchers say social and emotional issues underlie cigarette consumption.

研究表明, 例如, 那些处于持续压力下的人, have suffered discrimination or live with anxiety and depression are more likely to find it harder to quit smoking.

收入水平和受教育程度也有影响. Federal data shows people who earn less than the poverty guidelines and attended high school without completing, 或者只完成了高中水平的学习, 是否比那些收入更高、受教育程度更高的同龄人更有可能吸烟.

在最近的一份关于这些社会因素的报告中, CDC researchers argued smoke-free regulations and cigarette taxes would help curb smoking rates among American adults who have low educational attainment and earn low incomes. They said that was true in part because they were more likely to be targeted by tobacco advertising and less likely to be exposed to health information.

“From a policy perspective, the most powerful action we could take is to raise price,” said Dr. 迈克尔·菲奥雷, a physician and researcher for over 30 years and founder of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin.

But Fiore also said policymakers should make cessation programs more affordable – or free – for those who need them most.

阿曼达·L. 戒烟专家格雷厄姆说，参与戒烟计划至关重要. 从事癌症和烟草使用研究20多年, Graham has focused her work on how digital interventions and online social networks have helped people quit cigarettes and other tobacco products.

“当我们考虑医疗成本的最大驱动因素时, if there’s an investment that employers and health plans need to be making it’s tobacco cessation,格雷厄姆说。, 他是华盛顿真相倡议组织数字戒烟项目的负责人, D.C.

Stubbs, the man from Tennessee, said he’ll continue to smoke for the foreseeable future. He’s never sought help from a cessation program and said it could take a serious health problem to make him quit.

He wants his family to continue to urge him to quit because some of what they say sinks in. But he wants them to stop giving him the saddened looks he gets when he pulls out a pack of cigarettes.

“我觉得当他们看到我抽烟时，他们看到的是一具尸体.”

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