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Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate

BACKGROUND: In recent decades the overall smoking prevalence in the US has fallen steadily. This study examines whether the same trend is seen in the Medicaid population. METHODS AND FINDINGS: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 17 consecutive annual surveys from 1997 to 2013 (combined...

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Autores principales: Zhu, Shu-Hong, Anderson, Christopher M., Zhuang, Yue-Lin, Gamst, Anthony C., Kohatsu, Neal D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5479677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28542637
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178279
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author Zhu, Shu-Hong
Anderson, Christopher M.
Zhuang, Yue-Lin
Gamst, Anthony C.
Kohatsu, Neal D.
author_facet Zhu, Shu-Hong
Anderson, Christopher M.
Zhuang, Yue-Lin
Gamst, Anthony C.
Kohatsu, Neal D.
author_sort Zhu, Shu-Hong
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In recent decades the overall smoking prevalence in the US has fallen steadily. This study examines whether the same trend is seen in the Medicaid population. METHODS AND FINDINGS: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 17 consecutive annual surveys from 1997 to 2013 (combined N = 514,043) were used to compare smoking trends for 4 insurance groups: Medicaid, the Uninsured, Private Insurance, and Other Coverage. Rates of chronic disease and psychological distress were also compared. RESULTS: Adjusted smoking prevalence showed no detectable decline in the Medicaid population (from 33.8% in 1997 to 31.8% in 2013, trend test P = 0.13), while prevalence in the other insurance groups showed significant declines (38.6%-34.7% for the Uninsured, 21.3%-15.8% for Private Insurance, and 22.6%-16.8% for Other Coverage; all P’s<0.005). Among individuals who have ever smoked, Medicaid recipients were less likely to have quit (38.8%) than those in Private Insurance (62.3%) or Other Coverage (69.8%; both P’s<0.001). Smokers in Medicaid were more likely than those in Private Insurance and the Uninsured to have chronic disease (55.0% vs 37.3% and 32.4%, respectively; both P’s<0.01). Smokers in Medicaid were also more likely to experience severe psychological distress (16.2% for Medicaid vs 3.2% for Private Insurance and 7.6% for the Uninsured; both P’s<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The high and relatively unchanging smoking prevalence in the Medicaid population, low quit ratio, and high rates of chronic disease and severe psychological distress highlight the need to focus on this population. A targeted and sustained campaign to help Medicaid recipients quit smoking is urgently needed.
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spelling pubmed-54796772017-07-06 Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate Zhu, Shu-Hong Anderson, Christopher M. Zhuang, Yue-Lin Gamst, Anthony C. Kohatsu, Neal D. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: In recent decades the overall smoking prevalence in the US has fallen steadily. This study examines whether the same trend is seen in the Medicaid population. METHODS AND FINDINGS: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 17 consecutive annual surveys from 1997 to 2013 (combined N = 514,043) were used to compare smoking trends for 4 insurance groups: Medicaid, the Uninsured, Private Insurance, and Other Coverage. Rates of chronic disease and psychological distress were also compared. RESULTS: Adjusted smoking prevalence showed no detectable decline in the Medicaid population (from 33.8% in 1997 to 31.8% in 2013, trend test P = 0.13), while prevalence in the other insurance groups showed significant declines (38.6%-34.7% for the Uninsured, 21.3%-15.8% for Private Insurance, and 22.6%-16.8% for Other Coverage; all P’s<0.005). Among individuals who have ever smoked, Medicaid recipients were less likely to have quit (38.8%) than those in Private Insurance (62.3%) or Other Coverage (69.8%; both P’s<0.001). Smokers in Medicaid were more likely than those in Private Insurance and the Uninsured to have chronic disease (55.0% vs 37.3% and 32.4%, respectively; both P’s<0.01). Smokers in Medicaid were also more likely to experience severe psychological distress (16.2% for Medicaid vs 3.2% for Private Insurance and 7.6% for the Uninsured; both P’s<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The high and relatively unchanging smoking prevalence in the Medicaid population, low quit ratio, and high rates of chronic disease and severe psychological distress highlight the need to focus on this population. A targeted and sustained campaign to help Medicaid recipients quit smoking is urgently needed. Public Library of Science 2017-05-25 /pmc/articles/PMC5479677/ /pubmed/28542637 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178279 Text en © 2017 Zhu et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zhu, Shu-Hong
Anderson, Christopher M.
Zhuang, Yue-Lin
Gamst, Anthony C.
Kohatsu, Neal D.
Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
title Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
title_full Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
title_fullStr Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
title_full_unstemmed Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
title_short Smoking prevalence in Medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
title_sort smoking prevalence in medicaid has been declining at a negligible rate
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5479677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28542637
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178279
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