People who smoke menthol cigarettes may find it harder to quit, especially blacks and Puerto Ricans, according to researchers at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, April 15, 2011).
The study findings come as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products is considering banning menthol cigarettes after its own Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee concluded that "removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States."
Earlier studies regarding the impact of smoking menthol cigarettes and smoking cessation efforts have produced mixed results, according to the researchers. This study looks at whether those who smoke menthol cigarettes are less likely to quit than smokers of nonmenthol cigarettes, and whether these findings differ by race/ethnicity and also among various subgroups of smokers, such as those trying to quit.
Using data from the 2003 and 2006-2007 National Cancer Institute Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, investigators focused on white, black, and Hispanic "ever-smokers" -- current smokers and former smokers who quit in the past five years. Current smokers were further defined as having smoked 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and smoking every day or some days at the time of the survey. Former smokers were noted as those who smoked 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and were not smoking during the time of the survey.
Blacks included multiracial blacks, and the Hispanic dataset was further broken down by Hispanic origin. Socioeconomic factors including education and household income were examined for all groups.
Overall, menthol smoking was more common among females and young adults (ages 18-24. Menthol smoking varied considerably by race/ethnicity; among blacks, 71.8% smoked menthols, significantly greater than whites (21%) and Hispanics (28.1%).
However, among Hispanics there were wide variations. Menthol smoking was more common among those of Puerto Rican descent (62%) than among those of Mexican (19.9%) and other Hispanic origins (26.5%).
A key strength of the study was that the research team examined the relationship between menthol smoking and cessation for five different sample restrictions. The main finding held true even after analyzing the data using several different samples.
"Because our evidence suggests that the presence of menthol may partially explain the observed differences in cessation outcomes, the recent calls to ban this flavoring would be prudent and evidence-based," the authors stated.
