Cigarette smoking interventions among diverse populations

One of the greatest public health success stories of the past 50 years has been the reduction in cigarette smoking in the United States. Smoking prevalence has decreased by 50% or more in the United States since the 1960s, and although recent reports indicate a plateau in this decline, the long-term downward trend has resulted in an overall smoking prevalence rate of 20.6% in 2009.1 Despite this success, the Healthy People 2010 objective of reducing the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults to 12% or less has not been realized. This is, in large part, due to the fact that tobacco control efforts have not impacted population subgroups equally. In general, racial/ethnic minority groups and persons of lower socioeconomic status (SES) have not benefited as much as whites and those of higher SES from smoking prevention and cessation programs. If we are to meet the goal of 12% or less smoking prevalence among the overall adult population, more effort is needed to influence tobacco use behaviors among racial/ethnic and low SES population