New Health and Medicine Study Results from University of Central Florida Described (Current Use of Cigarettes in the United States: The Joint Role of Race/Ethnicity and Health Insurance Coverage): Health and Medicine

2023 DEC 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Research findings on agriculture are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Orlando, Florida, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “The goal of this study was to assess the joint role of race/ethnicity and a health insurance coverage type (private, Medicare, Medicaid) in current cigarette use among adults in the U.S.”

The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from University of Central Florida: “Data from the 2019 Tobacco Use Supplement and the 2019 Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey were merged (n = 39,882). Bivariate associations between each coverage type and smoking prevalence were examined within each of six racial/ethnic groups. A multiple logistic regression model (for the odds of current cigarette use) was estimated to explore the interactions between race/ethnicity and an indicator of each type of coverage among Hispanic, non-Hispanic (NH) Black/African American, and NH White adults. All analyses included survey weights. Results of bivariate analyses indicated that private and Medicare coverage were associated with significantly lower smoking prevalence (compared to no such coverage), while Medicaid coverage was associated with significantly higher smoking prevalence (all p 0.05). Some of these associations were significant among NH Black/African American and NH White adults (all p 0.05).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The model indicated that the interaction between race/ethnicity and the indicator of private coverage was significant (p = 0.044): private coverage was significantly associated with lower prevalence among NH White adults only (AOR = 0.59, 98.3%, CI = 0.46:0.76). In addition, Medicaid coverage was significantly associated with higher smoking prevalence (overall). The study points to possible racial/ethnic disparities in the quality of smoking-related health care that people with the same type of coverage receive and possible underutilization of health care services even among adults with health insurance coverage, especially among communities of color and Medicaid enrollees.”

For more information on this research see: Current Use of Cigarettes in the United States: The Joint Role of Race/Ethnicity and Health Insurance Coverage. Healthcare, 2023,11(23). (Healthcare - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcare). The publisher for Healthcare is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11233014.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Julia N. Soulakova, Department of Population Health Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, 6900 Lake Nona Blvd., Orlando, FL 32827, United States. Additional authors for this research include Lisa J. Crockett.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the authors of this research: Julia N. Soulakova (http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9353-632X), Lisa J. Crockett (http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5072-6190).

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