Disparities

The impact of tobacco on health and economic resources tend to be greater for 10 high-risk populations than for the population as a whole. In other words, smoking rates tend to be higher for these groups than the national average, leading to increased tobacco-related rates of disease, disability and death.

The 10 priority populations are as follows: African-Americans, Latinos/Latinas, Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, people in treatment for substance abuse, people in treatment for mental illness, people with disabilities, spit tobacco users, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, and persons with low socioeconomic status.

Eliminating tobacco-related health disparities poses a great challenge to Colorado and the nation. STEPP joins tobacco control coalitions nationwide in their tobacco education and prevention efforts to try to understand patterns of tobacco use and consequences within these priority populations. By doing so, we can devise and implement effective strategies that acknowledge the special needs of these groups.

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