Abstract PO-010: Increased risk of smoking-related health conditions for current and former smokers in the Chicago metro area
Authors: Burke Larisa A. , Steffen Alana D. , Duangchan Cherdsak , Watson Karriem S. , Matthews Alicia K. 
Published: January 2022

PURPOSE: Smoking is a main cause of lung cancer and COPD and is also a cause of coronary heart disease, stroke and a host of other cancers and diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate rates of smoking-related health conditions in the Chicago metro area and to assess how cigarette use and demographic factors correlate with increased risk for these conditions. METHODS: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a national system of health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services. A subsample of the 2019 BRFSS data from the Chicago metro-area was used (n=4,838). Analysis was conducted with STATA survey analysis tools to account for the complex sampling design of BRFSS data. Logistic regression models predicting increased risk for each health condition for 3 categories of smokers (current, quit in past 10 years, quit &gt;10 years ago) compared to non-smokers and including age, sex, race, income, and BMI as covariates were run. RESULTS: Rates of health problems of Chicago area residents were: 5.9% non-skin cancer, 5.1% COPD, 8.4% asthma, 5.0% coronary heart disease/myocardial infarction (MI/CHD), 2.8% stroke, 30.2% hypertension, 10.4% diabetes, and 7.5% poor/fair health. Current smoking was associated with increased odds of COPD (7.3 [4.7, 11.4]), asthma (1.8 [1.2, 2.6]), hypertension (1.6 [1.2, 2.1]), diabetes (1.5 [1.0, 2.3]), and poor/fair health (1.8 [1.3, 2.5]). Those that quit smoking in the past 10 years had increased odds of COPD (2.9 [1.7, 5.1]), stroke (2.6 [1.3, 5.4]), diabetes (1.9 [1.2, 2.9]), and poor/fair health (1.5 [1.1, 2.2]). Those that quit more than 10 years ago had increased odds of non-skin cancer (1.6 [1.1, 2.3]), COPD (2.3 [1.5, 3.6]), and MI/CHD (2.2 [1.4, 3.2]). Demographic factors also predicted greater risk of smoking-related health conditions after controlling for smoking status including greater risk for Black residents of stroke (2.0 (1.1, 3.7)], hypertension (1.7 [1.3, 2.2]), diabetes (1.7 [1.2, 2.4]), and poor/fair health (1.7 [1.3, 2.4]) and increased risk for Hispanic residents of diabetes (2.4 [1.6, 3.4]) and poor/fair health (2.5 [1.8, 3.3]). Lower income predicted greater risk for MI/CHD (1.9 [1.3, 2.9]), stroke (2.2 [1.2, 4.2]), hypertension (1.5 [1.2, 1.9]), diabetes (1.5 [1.1, 2.1]) and poor/fair health (3.0 [2.3, 3.8]). CONCLUSION: Risks for smoking-related health conditions varied for current and former cigarette users and also by different demographic factors for Chicago metro-area residents. These findings can inform clinical work by revealing the continued health risks even for those who quit smoking and how risks my be exacerbated for different racial groups and for those with lower income.

Citation Format: Larisa A. Burke, Alana D. Steffen, Cherdsak Duangchan, Karriem S. Watson, Alicia K. Matthews. Increased risk of smoking-related health conditions for current and former smokers in the Chicago metro area [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-010.