Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 3, 1 March 2016 — Smoking rates raise concern [ARTICLE]

Smoking rates raise concern

ByTreenaShapiro

While Hawai'i's overall smoking rates are among the lowest in the country, Native Hawaiians are still smoking cigarettes at a higher rate than the nahonal average. According to Dr. Virginia Pressler, director of the state Department of Health, when looking only at adults, about 27 percent of Hawaiians smoke, compared to 14 percent of Hawai'i residents and 17 percent of Americans. "That's a significant eoneem because of all the negative impacts smoking has on people's heahh," says Pressler, who points out that this also means more exposure to secondhand smoke for children and families. Smoking is linked to lung and esophageal cancers, coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes, so the higher smoking rate leads more Hawaiians to be diagnosed with smoking-related illnesses that shave an average of two to four years

from their lives. "The health impact on the Native Hawaiian populahon is immense," Pressler says. "It's a major priority for us to deal with the health inequities, not just the global health outcomes." Public heahh experts hope a new law raising the smoking age to 21 from 18 will help to bring down Native Hawaiian smoking rates. The law took effect at the beginning of the year. Ideally, the new law will encourage more young people to seek out smoking cessation services like the free Hawai'i Tobacco Quitline ( l-800-QUIT-NOW) or programs run through community health centers says Jessica Yamauchi, executive director of the Hawaii Public Health Institute. According to a 2014 U.S. Surgeon General's report, most smokers try their first cigarette before they turn 18. "What we find is that nearly half of all adult smokers transition between experimenting and regular smoking onee they turn 18 and have legal access to the product," Yamauchi says. Another argument for raising the smoking age is

tied to the state's decision to delay the age children start kindergarten, whieh means more students are turning 18 while still inhigh school. "By raising it to 21, it's mueh less likely for a 21-year-old to be hanging out with a 16-year-old and sharing those products," Yamauchi says. "We also hope we're delaying the age of initiating and hopefully at that point, they're not starting at all." Yamauchi points to a U.S. Institutes of Medieine study fromMarch 2015 that concluded that if the entire nation were to raise the legal smoking age to 21, it could lead to 223,000 fewer premature deaths, 50,000 fewer deaths fromlung cancer and 4.2 million fewer years of life lost for those born between 2000 and 2019. "They also estimated that the smoking prevalence would fall an estimated 12 percent if the minimum age was set at 21," she says. As the state works on a new five-year tobacco control plan, Pressler says that special attention will be paid to eliminating the disparity in smoking rates among Native Hawaiians and other populations at risk. For more information or to find smoking cessation materials, visit the 'Imi Hale Native Hawaiian Cancer Network's website at www.imihale.org. ■