AcknowledgmentsResearch Mentor: Gyda Swaney and Kari Harris

Funding: The National Cancer Institute and The Bridges Program

Site: Missoula Indian Center

Introduction•Tobacco Tobacco use among Americans has become a huge problem word-wide

•use is one of the leading causes of death (Figure 1)

•American Indians/Alaska Natives have the highest smoking rate among ethnic groups in the United states (Table 2)

HYPOTHESIS: Offspring of parents who smoke are more likely to smoke.

Abstract

Tobacco use by Native Americans has become a large problem. Of all ethnic groups, Native Americans have the largest tobacco related deaths in the country.

A self administered tobacco survey was given to the local Native community. Their responses were entered onto a database using SPSS.

Materials and Methods•Self-administered, paper-and-pencil survey with 153 questions•Administered to 114 Native Americans 18 years and older at the Missoula Indian Center•Responses entered into a database and summarized using SPSS•The University of Montana Human Subject’s committee and the Missoula Indian Center board approved this study and its procedures

Current Study:•Used 3 questions (Table 2)•Smokers were defined as those who smoked on one or more days using Q5•Combined Q40 and Q41 into one binary variable, “parents smoke” (Yes/No)

Results

Survey from 98 participants contained complete data and were used for this analysis.

More people who had a parent who smoked were current smokers compared to people whose parent(s) did not smoke (Table 3)

Smoking rate was 64.2% among those who had a parent who smoked

Smoking rate was 54.8% among those who did not have a parent who smoked

Discussion and Conclusions

•Parents who smoke may want to consider quitting to help protect their children from becoming smokers.

•If this study is accurate, then the health services could promote awareness and that may reduce the high percentage of smoking among ethnic groups.

•Limitations of this study include that it was conducted in an urban area and there are other factors that contribute to smoking.

•Data from future studies conducted on and off reservations could be combined with these data so that the evidence could be more conclusive.

Is parental smoking associated with current smoking in Native Americans?

Literature CitedDavis SM, Reid R. Practicing participatory research in American Indian communities.

Am J Clin Nutr. Apr. 1999;(4 Suppl): 755S-759S.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, center for Disease Control and prevention, National center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2000

Raphael Biglefthand University of Montana, Project Bridges and The Department of Psychology

Figure 2. Survey administration

Table 1. Percent Smokers by ethnicity (CDC, 2003)

Whites 24%African Americans 22.3%Hispanics 16.7%American Indians/ 32.7% Alaska NativesAsian Americans 12.4%

Table 3. Smoking status by parental smoking

Parent Smoking StatusSmoke Smoker Non-smoker

Yes 64.2% 35.8%No 54.8% 45.2%

Table 2. Questions in current study

Q5. During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke?

Q40. How often does your father smoke cigarettes?

Q41. How often does your father smoke cigarettes?

0 5 10 15 20

Tobacco

Diet/exercise

Alcohol

Infectious Agents

Toxic Agents

Firearms

Sexual Behavior

Motor Vehicles

Illicit Drug Use

Percent of all deathsMcGinnis J, JAMA 1993, 270:2202-2212

Figure 1. Real causes of death