Smoking prevalence in urban and rural populations: findings from California between 2001 and 2012

Abstract

Background: Tobacco smoking and related health problems are still major public health concerns in the United States despite the declining smoking prevalence.Objectives: This study explored differences in smoking prevalence between urban and rural areas potentially relevant to tobacco control efforts in California. Pooled data from all CHIS cycles showed a similar pattern, with rates in Urban, Second-City, Suburban and Town/Rural areas being 15.2%, 15.2%, 13.1% and 17.3%, respectively. MethodsWeighted multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated significantly higher odds of smoking in Urban, Second-City and Town/Rural areas compared to Suburban areas (all adjusted odds ratios >1.10), although this trend varied by race/ethnicity, being present in non-Hispanic Whites and not present in Hispanics.Conclusions: Town/Rural and Urban populations of California are consistently at higher risk of smoking than Suburban populations. These results indicate a need for population-specific tobacco control approaches that address the lifestyle, behavior, and education of disparate populations within the same state or region.

Access to Lung Cancer Screening Services: Preliminary Analysis of Geographic Service Distribution Using the ACR Lung Cancer Screening Registry

“…Nonetheless, opportunity to align lung screening availability with relevant clinical variables such as state-level lung cancer deaths or other population risk factors such as smoking prevalence remains as a public health consideration. Smoking trends continue to shift from cities, where most facilities are located, to rural areas(17)(18), increasing the challenge of optimizing screening facility distribution. Changes in smoking prevalence raise the need for further investigation on how should resources be allocated geographically(19).…”

“…The location and distribution of screening facilities by state were graphically represented using QGIS 2.18, open-source geographic information system (GIS) application that provides data viewing and analysis(17). We calculated the nearest neighbor index (NNI) within each state to investigate state-specific facility location clustering and dispersion patterns.…”

Geographical Disparities in Screening and Cancer-Related Health Behaviour

“…For example, several studies have shown that tobacco smoking [17,28,29] and alcohol consumption [30] are higher in rural and remote areas, whereas others have found no effect or a negative relationship with remoteness [31][32][33]. Living in regional and remote areas has been associated with unhealthier diet and decreased exercise in some studies [31,33,34]. This is consistent with Australian figures that show rates of daily smoking, overweight or obesity, lower levels of exercise and riskier alcohol consumption are higher in regional and remote areas than in major cities [35].…”

“…Investigations into geographic disparities in health behaviours have been limited by some key elements. For example, much of the literature on disparities in health behaviours is focused on younger adults (i.e., <50) [33,36,37]. Furthermore, many of the studies do not separate regional areas from rural or remote areas, collapsing all non-metropolitan residents into a "rural" group.…”

Structure of Relations Between the Frequency of Micronuclei in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes and Age, Gender, Smoking Habits and Socio-Demographic Factors in South-East Region of Serbia

“…Tobacco is a habit originating in cities [45,46] and so elder participants in the current sample who live in villages at high elevation tend to be non-smokers. Chromosomal changes that can cause NPB and NB become more frequent with age [4].…”