A new paper, published in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), argues that older adults who smoke are “forgotten,” and that more needs to be done to address “the incredible burden of disease and death that this population carries.”
“The number of adults aged 65 years and older is expected to more than double worldwide over the next several decades, and for the first time in record history, older adults will outnumber children,” write the authors, Annie Kleykamp of BAK and Associates and Jessica Kulak of the University of Buffalo.
“Despite these unprecedented population shifts, older adults are significantly underrepresented in biomedical research, especially in the field of nicotine and tobacco science. This focus on younger cohorts has obscured the reality that combustible tobacco use (i.e. smoking) has remained virtually unchanged for older adults for nearly two decades in the United States.”
In their AJPH article, the authors note that traditional tobacco control policies such as information campaigns and advertising bans are not as effective among older people who smoke. They write that this population is less likely to understand the relative harms of nicotine and combustible tobacco use, to use safer nicotine alternatives, to consult the internet for information, or even to know where to locate local cessation services. They also acknowledge that older people who smoke “face a range of socially and medically complex challenges,” like the fact that they are disproportionately likely to be Indigenous, Black or multiracial; to have less than a high school education; and to have annual income below $25,000.
Alex Norcia – Filter – 2022-11-29.
Want More Investigative Content?
