Dr. Shante Dube, Georgia State School of Public Health professor, published two studies revealing 18.3 percent of female smokers among working women and an increase of 60 percent in the numbers smokers in population of African American students, according to a Georgia State release.
“Cigar Smoking Among U.S. Students” is Dr. Dube’s study of change over time in student cigar smoking habits and uses data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Based on this data, cigar use is higher among African American students.
According to the study, 4.3 percent of White female students smoke cigars. The study also reveals a 11.5 percent percent increase in cigar smoking among African American female students.
Dube believes the youth should be protected, according to the School of Public Health press release.
“Youth are a vulnerable populations—taking an upstream approach on preventing youth initiation of tobacco use is an important step,” said Dr. Dube said in the release.
The second study, “Gender Differences in Smoking Among Working U.S. Adults”, quantifies smoking habits based on gender and profession. Dr. Dube found 22.8 percent of working men and 18.3 percent of working women are smokers. The article concludes smoking has more negative effects on women than men.
“Among working adults, women had lower prevalence of smoking than men, yet women who smoke were more likely than men to have adverse health outcomes, including self-rated poorer physical and emotional health,” reads the article.
The data will help employers better understand the consequences of smoking in the workplace, according to Dr. Dube in the release.
“The data collected from this study can help inform employers of the burden of smoking and workplace interventions can be applied,” she
