Consequences of a match made in hell: the harm caused by menthol smoking to the African American population over 1980-2018.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For many years, national surveys have shown a consistently disproportionately high prevalence of menthol smokers among African Americans compared with the general population. However, to our knowledge, no prior study has quantified the harm that menthol smoking has caused on that population. In this work, we estimate the public health harm that menthol cigarettes have caused to the African American community over the last four decades.

Methods

Using National Health Interview Survey data, we employed a well-established simulation model to reproduce the observed smoking trajectory over 1980-2018 in the African American population. Then, we repeat the experiment, removing the effects of menthol on the smoking initiation and cessation rates over that period, obtaining

SUBMITTER: Mendez D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8924008 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature