Cigarette smoking has declined among New York City (NYC) adults since 2002, but research has shown that NYC tobacco control policies may be less impactful among Asian communities, particularly Chinese. In order to better target this subgroup, we explored smoking and cessation behaviors among Chinese-speaking Asian smokers compared with English-speaking Asian smokers and all other smokers. We used combined 2015-2016 data from the NYC Community Health Survey (CHS), an annual dual landline/cellphone survey of about 9000 adults to analyze smoker demographics, and 2010-2012 and 2016 CHS samples to compare quit attempts, advice, and aids used among Asian smokers who took the survey in Chinese, Asian smokers who took the survey in English and all other smokers at two points in time. We used multivariable logistic regression to compare outcomes between groups. In 2015-2016, English-speaking Asians (11.2%, p = .004) and all other adults (13.6%, p = .029) were less likely to be current smokers compared with Chinese-speaking Asians (16.9%). In 2010-2012 there was no difference in odds of current smoking by race/interview language, while in 2016 the odds of smoking among English-speaking Asians and all other respondents were 51% and 32% lower, respectively, than Chinese-speaking Asians. Odds of NRT use did not differ in 2010-2012 but in 2016 odds of NRT use among all other smokers were 2.63 times higher than among Chinese-speaking Asian smokers. Results indicate the need for tailored smoking cessation programs towards Chinese-speaking Asian smokers to encourage NRT use, reduce cigarette consumption, and decrease disparities.
Keywords: Asian smokers; Chinese smokers; Health disparities; Smoking cessation.