By Dennis Rocha
Bilingual Weekly
SACRAMENTO, CA – Led by researchers at UC Davis, the first study of smoking and transnational migration from Mexico to the United states and that of Mexican Americans born in the United States start smoking at a younger age but are more likely to quit their counterparts in Mexico.
Just published in the American Journal of Public Health, the study of migration-related changes in smoking behavior also indicates that while the probability of starting and quitting smoking varies dramatically with migration from Mexico to the United States, the number of cigarettes that smokers consume per day is relatively similar.
Mexican-Americans are more likely to start and quit smoking that people in Mexico, but on an average day, Mexican Americans who smoke cigarettes consume only a few more that Mexicans who smoke. In contrast, the number of cigarettes smoked Mexican Americans per day is about half of what smokers smoked per day non-Hispanic whites in the United States.
Cigarette smoking among Mexican Americans remains a significant public health problem, despite the relatively low level of cigarettes consumed per day.
“Everyone in America is smoking much less than before,” said the study’s lead author, Elisa Tong, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UC Davis, who specializes in research snuff control. “But even cigarette lighters consumption is a risk factor for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.”
Tong added that “while Mexican Americans born in the United States are smoking more, quitting smoking are…
Finish reading A new study examines the behavior of smokers among people from Mexico and Mexican Americans
