Recorded presentation

Philip T. McCabe, CSW, CAS, Office of Public Health Practice, University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ-School of Public Health, 683 Hoes Lane West, Room 110, Piscataway, NJ 08854, 732-235-8229, philip.mccabe@umdnj.edu

Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual & Transgender Individual’s use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs for the same reasons as others, but their likelihood for doing so is heightened by personal and cultural stresses resulting from anti-gay bias. Reliance on bars for socialization, stress caused by discrimination, and targeted advertising by tobacco and alcohol businesses in gay and lesbian publications are all believed to contribute to increased pressures on LGBT individuals to engage in continued dependence.

• Although no large scale study of the prevalence of GLBT tobacco use has been conducted, current evidence suggests that sexual minority people do smoke more than heterosexuals.

• A 1999 household-based survey found that 41.5% of gay and bisexual men reported smoking, a rate far in excess of the overall national rate for men of 28.6%.

• Data from the 1998 Women's Health Initiative indicate that about twice as many lesbians as heterosexual women reported being "heavy" smokers (6.8-7.4% of lesbians and 3.5% of heterosexual women). Although almost 50% of the heterosexual women reported never smoking, only 25-33% of lesbians reported never smoking.

• According to the 1988 National Lesbian Survey, the rate of smoking among lesbians increases with age, whereas rates of smoking among women in the general population decline with age.

The presentation will feature state of the art information on the public health issues related to tobacco dependence, along with an overview of tools for screening, assessment, diagnosis, education and treatment planning.

Learning Objectives: