Event Description
12:15 - 1:15 PM CT
Nathaniel Tran, Division of Health Policy and Administration, University of Illinois, Chicago School of Public Health
Cigarette smoking remains a leading preventable cause of death in the US, threatening 25 million current smokers. This project examines how recent tobacco control policies and emerging products are impacting population health and aging. We find that smoking among young adults fell before federal law raising the tobacco sales age to 21 even took effect. Declines were larger among young adults with less education and lower incomes, narrowing those gaps, but disparities by sex and sexual orientation persisted. We also find that sexual minority adults smoke and vape at higher rates than heterosexual adults across most ages, with young sexual minority adults especially likely to vape and those in their late twenties especially likely to use both products together. Finally, expanding lung cancer screening eligibility to younger, lighter smokers substantially increased screening rates among the newly eligible and adults who already qualified. These findings show that while some policies produce real gains, disparities by sex and sexual orientation persist, underscoring the need for targeted, LGBTQ+-affirming prevention and cessation strategies.
Attend in-person at 50 Willey Hall, University of Minnesota, or join via Zoom