SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Smokers of menthol or mint-flavored cigarettes, favored by African-Americans, are less likely to attempt to quit smoking, a U.S. study finds.
"For a variety of historical and cultural reasons, including targeted advertising by the tobacco industry, African-American smokers are much more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than European American smokers -- approximately 70 percent versus 30 percent," says Dr. Mark J. Pletcher of the University of California, San Francisco.
Pletcher and colleagues tracked 1,535 smokers since 1985. After factoring in social and demographic variables, by 2000, the researchers found that African-Americans were both more likely to smoke menthols and less likely to quit smoking.
"Among smokers who tried to quit, menthol seemed unrelated to quitting, but menthol was associated with a lower likelihood of trying to quit in the first place," the authors write in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Analyzing the data over time, the researchers found that menthol smokers were almost twice as likely to relapse after quitting and also were less likely to stop for a sustained period of time.
"It is possible that switching from menthol cigarettes to non-menthol cigarettes might facilitate subsequent smoking cessation, especially in African-Americans," said Pletcher.
