Smoking Status and Well-Being of Underserved African American Older Adults

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the association between current and past cigarette smoking, with four domains of well-being, namely, physical quality of life, mental quality of life, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health status (SRH), among older African American adults who lived in economically impoverished areas of South Los Angles. Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study included a convenience sample of economically-disadvantaged African Americans adults (n = 740) who were 55 years old and older residing in South Los Angeles. We conducted in-depth face-to-face interviews to collect data on the socioeconomic status (level of education and fiscal pressures), demographic factors (age and gender), physical health (number of chronic medical conditions), smoking (never smokers (reference group), past smokers, and current smokers), and well-being (quality of life, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health). Linear regressions were used to analyze the data. Results: Over 21% reported that they are current smokers, compared with 31% who identified as former smokers. Almost 40% perceived the quality of their health status to be fair or poor. Compared with non-smokers, current cigarette smokers reported a worse physical quality of life, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health. Current smokers also reported a marginally worse mental quality of life.

The Influence of Alcohol Consumption on Tobacco Use among Urban Older Adults: Evidence from Western China in 2017

“…Age was inversely associated with tobacco use among older adults. Consistent with previous studies, current smokers were younger than never-smokers and past smokers among African American older adults in South Los Angeles in the U.S. [36] and older men, in particular in Korea [78] and Iran [79]. This might be because older adults felt more vulnerable due to increasing health problems with age.…”

“…", was used to collect information regarding smoking from the respondents. Respondents who answered "never" to the question were classified as never-smokers, participants who answered "ever" to the question were classified as past smokers, and those who answered "occasionally or regularly" to the question were classified as current smokers [2,36]. In the current research, never-smokers and past smokers were combined and constituted the non-smoker category [35], and occasional or regular smokers were categorized as current smokers [16].…”

“…Specifically, gender is strongly associated with smoking in the elderly, and in developed and developing countries, a vast majority of older men are smokers [2,30,34,35]. In the U.S., aging and the experience of older adulthood often results in reduced smoking consumption [36]. Educational attainment is an important factor associated with tobacco use in the elderly.…”

“…Physical and psychological health is an important determinant of smoking among older adults, as are self-rated health [36], depressive symptoms [45], functional impairment [46] and life satisfaction [47,48]. A very poor health condition would induce enough "fear or motivation" to cause an older adult to change their smoking status [46].…”

Prenatal cigarette smoking as a mediator between racism and depressive symptoms: The Biosocial Impact on Black Births Study

“…A recent systematic review also reported a positive association between cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms among non‐pregnant adults (Fluharty, Taylor, Grabski, & Munafò, 2017). In a study with Black adults ages 55 or older who lived in economically impoverished urban areas, participants who smoked cigarettes reported more depressive symptoms compared with participants who did not smoke cigarettes (Bazargan, Cobb, Castro Sandoval, & Assari, 2020). In another study with a sample with women who smoked (83 European American and 175 African American), smoking was significantly correlated with depressive symptoms among African American women only (Ludman et al, 2002).…”