Unpacking the Non-Hispanic Other Category: Differences in Patterns of Tobacco Product Use Among Youth and Adults in the United States, 2009-2018

J Immigr Minor Health. 2020 Dec;22(6):1368-1372. doi: 10.1007/s10903-020-01089-0. Epub 2020 Sep 27.

Abstract

Studies investigating patterns of tobacco use by race often aggregate non-Black and non-Hispanic racial minorities into the "Other" category, masking important differences. Pooling 10 years (2009-2018) of National Survey on Drug Use and Health data (n = 52,424), we estimated the prevalence and proportion of individual tobacco product use and patterns of single, dual, and polytobacco use overall and by sex for youth (12-17) and adult (18 +) non-Hispanic Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander (NH/PI), and multiracial respondents. Cigarette prevalence was highest among AI/AN youth (8.6%) and adults (37.3%). For youth and adults, the AI/AN subgroup had the highest prevalence of single (9.2% youth, 35.8% adults) and dual (2.8% youth, 6.6% adults) use, followed by multiracial respondents. Furthermore, among tobacco users, AI/AN and multiracial youth and adults had the highest proportions of dual and poly use compared to other races. Appropriate tobacco prevention and cessation interventions should consider variation in tobacco use among non-Hispanic "Other" subgroups.

Keywords: Cigarettes; Epidemiology; Health disparities; Polytobacco; Tobacco products.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Hawaii
  • Humans
  • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
  • Tobacco Products*
  • Tobacco Use / epidemiology
  • Tobacco Use Disorder*
  • United States / epidemiology