Are Latinos really less likely to be smokers? Lessons from Oregon

Our objective was to identify factors associated with current cigarette smoking among Latino adults in Oregon. We used data from 1,356 Latino participants and, for comparison, 18,593 non-Latino White participants in the 2000-2002 Oregon Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a random-digit-dialed, cross-sectional survey of noninstitutionalized, English- or Spanish-speaking adults who live in Oregon households with a telephone. We examined relationships between current smoking and gender, age, education, and survey language (a measure of acculturation) among Latinos and used the .05 level of significance. The prevalence of current smoking was significantly lower among Latinos (18.1%) than non-Latino Whites (20.8%). Latino men were significantly more likely than Latina women to be smokers (23.1% vs. 11.4%), and some evidence indicated that less education was associated with smoking among Latino men. Taking the survey in English was strongly and significantly associated with smoking among Latina women: Smoking prevalence was 20.5% among those taking the survey in English and 3.3% for those taking it in Spanish. Our results suggest that the lower smoking prevalence among Latinos was driven by Latina women taking the survey in Spanish. Hence, it is essential for tobacco control programs to examine their local Latino smoking prevalence by gender and acculturation to avoid incorrectly concluding that Latinos are at decreased risk. Although programs for Latinos should reinforce protective aspects of Latino culture, decreasing the smoking prevalence in the U.S. mainstream culture might mitigate the negative impact of acculturation on smoking behaviors.