Mortality Relative Risks by Smoking, Race/Ethnicity, and Education

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Sociomedical Sciences

Background:

• Cigarette smoking's impact on mortality is well-documented for the general population.
• However, age-specific mortality risks across diverse sociodemographic groups in the U.S. remain understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate age-specific all-cause mortality relative risks (RRs) for current smokers, recent quitters, and long-term quitters compared to never smokers.
• To analyze these RRs across various sociodemographic factors including age, gender, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 1987-2018 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files.
• Employed stratified Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate RRs.
• Analyzed data stratified by age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, smoking intensity, and years since quitting.

Main Results:

• All-cause mortality RRs for current smokers/recent quitters were highest among non-Hispanic White individuals, followed by non-Hispanic Black, and lowest for Hispanic individuals.
• RRs varied significantly by educational attainment, with higher education groups showing greater smoking-associated RRs.
• Age-specific RR patterns differed substantially across racial/ethnic, education, and gender groups.

Conclusions:

• Age-specific mortality rates linked to smoking are considerably influenced by sociodemographic factors.
• High-education groups exhibit higher relative risks for current smoking due to lower baseline mortality rates.
• These estimates are crucial for modeling tobacco control interventions and addressing smoking-related health disparities.