A Longitudinal Study of Menthol Cigarette use and Smoking Cessation Among Adult Smokers in the US: A

Cook S, Hirschtick JL, Patel A, Brouwer A, Jeon J, Levy DT, Meza R, Fleischer NL.
A Longitudinal Study of Menthol Cigarette use and Smoking Cessation Among Adult Smokers in the US: Assessing the Roles of Racial Disparities and E-cigarette Use.
Prev Med. 2021 Nov 15;154:106882. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106882. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34793851.

Using nationally representative longitudinal data from Wave 1 to Wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study in the United States, we examined whether the association between menthol cigarette use and smoking cessation was modified by race/ethnicity and e-cigarette use. Multivariable discrete-time survival models were fit to an unbalanced person-period data set (person n = 7423, risk period n = 18,897) for adult respondents (ages 25+) who were current established cigarette smokers at baseline. We found that adults who smoke menthol cigarettes had lower odds of smoking cessation, but the effect was modified by race/ethnicity as non-Hispanic (NH) Black menthol smokers had lower odds of quitting smoking than NH White or Hispanic menthol smokers. We also found that e-cigarette use was associated with higher odds of smoking cessation among both menthol and non-menthol smokers, but the association was stronger among menthol smokers. Our results suggest that a menthol smoking ban may have a favorable impact on smoking cessation for NH Black adults. In addition, our results also suggest that a menthol smoking ban may be more effective if menthol smokers have access to e-cigarettes as a way to quit cigarette use.