New Tobacco Research Finds Minnesota’s Latino Population Smoking Significantly Less than General Population

While Latina women’s rate low, men and young adult rates high, requiring continued need for culturally appropriate approaches to tobacco cessation ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 4

ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ — Results from the first
quantitative study measuring tobacco use in Minnesota’s Latino communities
were released today by Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) and ClearWay Minnesota(SM).
The report, titled “Tobacco Use in Minnesota: A Quantitative Survey of Members
of Minnesota’s Latino Communities” found adult Latinos overall are smoking at
a rate lower than that of Minnesota’s general adult population — 13 percent
as compared to 17 percent. The Latino smoking rate equates to more than 25,000
Latinos who still smoke. Additionally, the report found that only 4 percent of
Latina women smoke, a considerably lower rate than the 16 percent of women who
smoke in the general population.

Other highlights from the survey include:

— Twenty-two percent of Latino men in Minnesota smoke, which is
similar to the high rate of men who smoke in Minnesota’s general population.
It is important to note that the large difference in smoking rates between
women and men in the Latino community is likely tied to cultural prohibitions
on smoking by women.

— Young adult Latinos ages 18 to 24 are more likely to smoke (18
percent) than older Latino adults (13 percent). Similarly, the research shows
that Latinos ages 18 to 24 began experimenting with smoking at an earlier age
(age 14) than older Latinos (age 16).

— Of Latinos who smoke, 39 percent fail to identify themselves as
smokers when asked, a major barrier to quitting. An additional barrier is only
41 percent of smokers feel comfortable asking for help to stop smoking, which
helps increase the odds of quitting successfully.

“While overall Latino smoking rates are lower than the state’s smoking
rate, we are deeply concerned about the high rates of smoking in men and young
adults who appear to have begun experimenting with smoking at an earlier age,”
said Jesse Bethke Gomez, president of CLUES. “The tobacco industry
disproportionately targets the Latino community, so we must continue to use
culturally competent tobacco cessation programs for our communities and
commence a call to action to Latino families to drive down the rate among men,
and prevent women and children from ever starting to smoke.”

While much work remains to reduce tobacco use among Latino communities,
there is some good news:

— Most current Latino smokers in Minnesota have tried to quit — 74
percent reported quitting for a day or more within the 12 months before the
study.

— Nearly all Latinos are well-informed about the health risks of
smoking — 99 percent are aware smoking causes lung cancer, 93 percent are
aware smoking causes heart disease.

— Nearly all Latinos, 91 percent, report they don’t allow smoking in
their homes. The rate was even higher, 94 percent, for those with children in
the home.

This report affirms that cultural values, such as the Latino emphasis on
family, can be leveraged to create more culturally appropriate and effective
tobacco control programs. Existing programs will continue to address cultural
barriers, such as the tendency not to ask for help, which prevent smokers from
using counseling and stop-smoking medications to quit.

CLUES is using this new quantitative data to train 20 Minnesota State
University – Mankato students and 10 rural community health workers
(promotores). They will use this information when speaking with community
members about how to quit smoking. Another 250 health professionals are
expected to learn about the data and its uses at the Second Latino Community
Health Workers Conference of Minnesota this Saturday, December 6, from 8:30
a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building
in St. Paul. Communities are urged to continue conversations about tobacco use
among Latinos and to use the findings to build awareness of the positive
health benefits from further reductions in the smoking rate.

“This data, combined with information gleaned from our 2006 qualitative
report, paints a complete picture of tobacco use within the Latino community
and sheds light on tobacco-related health disparities,” said Marc Manley,
M.D., vice president and medical director, Blue Cross. “Tobacco use is the
leading cause of preventable death and disease in our state and costs
Minnesotans nearly $2 billion annually. It’s extremely important to understand
the barriers to quitting and use culturally appropriate solutions. We look
forward to working with the Latino community to lower rates even further.”

“Now we know where we’re doing well and where we can improve, and these
reports will help guide our strategies going forward,” said Bethke Gomez. “I’m
confident this information will result in tailored approaches to reduce
tobacco use and improve the health of thousands of Latino community members.”

These reports grew out of a collaborative project called Diverse Racial
and Ethnic Groups and Nations (DREGAN). In this participatory research and
action project, CLUES represents Minnesota’s Latino communities and works with
Blue Cross and ClearWay Minnesota(SM) to reduce tobacco’s harms.

Copies of the both the new quantitative report as well as the 2006
qualitative report can be downloaded from any of the sponsor websites at
http://www.clues.org, http://www.bluecrossmn.com/preventionminnesota or

http://www.clearwaymn.org.

NOTE ABOUT THE SURVEY: The quantitative survey was conducted from January
2006-March 2007 using a combination of face-to-face and telephone interviews
and achieved a 50 percent response rate from a random sample of Minnesota
Latino community members. The 805 respondents were located in the 11 county
metro region, six southern counties, and three northwestern counties.

Communidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES) was established in 1981.
The organization’s mission is to “enhance the quality of the Latino community
in Minnesota.” CLUES started as a mental health service agency addressing the
unique cultural and language needs of Spanish-speaking Latinos. CLUES is now
Minnesota’s largest Latino human services agency, providing a comprehensive
array of self-sufficiency and behavioral health services for Latino children,
families, and individuals. Core services include mental health, chemical
health, employment, education, aging-well, and family services. CLUES is one
of the few agencies to provide linguistically appropriate and culturally
proficient services to Spanish speakers in Minnesota and the only one that is
a dual-diagnostic provider of both chemical and mental health services. All
direct service staff members are bilingual and culturally competent. In 2007,
CLUES had more than 30,000 client visits at three sites in Minneapolis, East
St. Paul, and West St. Paul.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul
suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan and
continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a wider, more
economical and timely availability of health services for the people of
Minnesota. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the largest health
plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.9 million members in Minnesota and
nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated
companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee
of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago. Go to
http://www.bluecrossmn.com to learn more about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Minnesota.

ClearWay Minnesota(SM) is an independent, non-profit organization that
improves the health of Minnesotans by reducing the harm caused by tobacco.
ClearWay Minnesota serves Minnesota through its grant-making program, through
QUITPLAN(R) Services and through statewide outreach activities. It is funded
with 3 percent of the state’s 1998 tobacco settlement. For more information on
QUITPLAN Services, call 952-767-1400 or visit http://www.clearwaymn.org.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
Source : http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/new-tobacco-research-finds-minnesotas,644116.shtml

Related posts:

1. Smoking Rates In The U.S. Decline Below 20 Percent
2. The Great American Smokeout Is Your Chance to Start a Healthy Life
3. Tobacco Companies Suppress Smoking Risks For Many Years
4. Smoking Tobacco Kills Off More Than Simply the Cigarette Smoker
5. The perils of smoking tobacco products

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.