Learning Objectives: Describe smoking and smoking cessation behavior among the oldest-old (age 85+) Chinese and identify potential for effective smoking cessation interventions for this population segment.
Abstract: Chinese Americans, the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the US, may be at particularly high risk for excess tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. While the overall smoking rate in NYC is 21%, 45% of Asian males and 8% of Asian females in NYC currently smoke. Little is known about the smoking behavior of Chinese elderly largely because existing literature on smoking in Chinese populations has focused on non-elderly respondents. This study provides the first description of smoking and smoking cessation among the oldest-old (age 85+) Chinese (current population 10 million), the fastest growing population segment of Chinese elderly. Respondents were drawn from the 1998 Healthy Longevity Survey in China, a national survey of persons age 80 or older (N=8,760). Results show that majority of men began smoking before age 25. One in four women did not begin smoking until they were 40 years old. Average age of quitting was 70 for both men and women. Quit rates peaked between age 70 and 89. Smokers who initiated smoking later in life were more likely to quit than those who initiated in their teens were. Although smoking behaviors in earlier ages (age of initiation and age of quitting) were similar across cohorts, smoking prevalence decreased with age and quit rates increased with age. These results provide the first information on the potential for effective smoking cessation interventions among Chinese oldest-old. Future research will explore these unique longitudinal data and examine the magnitude of the health effects of smoking in Chinese elderly.
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