Week 3: Looking at the Trends

Hi, everyone! Welcome to my Senior Project Blog for Week 3! Since last time, I have continued researching past narratives that the tobacco industry has spread, and I began researching trends in mental health and tobacco product usage in Alameda County, other counties in the U.S., and the nation.

Researching Past Narratives:

As mentioned in my last blog post, the tobacco industry has spread many false narratives regarding the health effects of tobacco usage. I continued my research to find more instances of the tobacco industry’s false advertising.

The tobacco industry has a history of targeting the homeless, because they have often been more impacted by mental health issues. The industry would often give out free cigarettes to homeless shelters, and one company, Brown & Williamson, even named one of their products “Homeless Man.” The industry believes that the homeless are more vulnerable to misinformation, and as a result, they target the demographic and attempt to cause addictions.

Additionally, the tobacco industry has spread misinformation online about e-cigarettes by claiming they only contain water vapor and are not harmful to health. However, these products contain nicotine, a dangerous and addictive chemical. As stated in my last blog post, tobacco advertisements have a large impact on an individual’s decision to use the products, and this online misinformation has contributed to the increase in teen vaping over the past few years. It has also impacted adults, as one study found that people aged 18-24 who consumed misinformation about tobacco products on YouTube were more likely to have a positive view of the products than those who didn’t access that misinformation.

Trends of Mental Health and Tobacco Product Usage:

This week, I began looking at trends in tobacco product usage and mental health reports in Alameda County, other US counties, and the whole nation. While simply looking at the trends is not enough to determine a correlation, I checked whether the trends were generally growing or declining with each other.

First, I observed Alameda County, where I looked at a graph of “adults who smoke” and a graph of “adults needing and receiving behavioral health care services.” From 2020-2022, the rate for both of these indicators stayed at a fairly consistent rate, with both of them decreasing from 2018-2019 and both increasing in 2017. This shows that in the past few years, in Alameda County, the trend of adult smokers and the trend of adults who need behavioral healthcare services have been similar.

I also examined mental health and tobacco product usage in other U.S. counties. I aimed to look at counties that were extremely different from Alameda County, such as Breathitt County in Kentucky, which has a median household income of $32,259 compared to Alameda County’s median household income of $112,017. Breathitt County has a much higher “mental and substance use disorders mortality” rate and a higher “smoking” rate than Alameda County and the nation as a whole. This could indicate that in places where people have more mental disorders, they are more likely to use tobacco products.

In the U.S., mental health issues have become more prominent. As of 2022, 23.1% of adults, or 59.3 million people, had a mental health condition. In 2023, 53% of Americans reported mental health as the largest health problem in America. This is a significant increase from 2021, when about 35% of Americans reported it as the largest health problem. When looking at U.S. tobacco product usage, the trend differs based on age. Tobacco product usage has been shown to decrease in most age groups but has increased among some youth and those who are aged 65+. For these two age groups, the tobacco product usage trend follows the mental health trend. For the other age groups, there are likely other factors that play a larger role in declining mental health. However, I still believe it is important to examine tobacco product usage’s impact on mental health.

There are limitations to the trends I found, as there are many other factors, such as COVID, that can impact mental health. However, it was interesting to see the general trends in mental health and tobacco product usage. Next week, I will be researching tobacco product usage and mental health disorders in each of the following age groups: 12-17, 18-25, 25-40, 40-60, and 60+. I can’t wait to continue my research and share it with you. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next week!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1748120/pdf/v014p00409.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/health-equity/behavioral-health/unfair-and-unjust.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7532322/

https://www.healthyalamedacounty.org/indicators/index/indicatorsearch?doSearch=1&showComparisons=1&l%5B0%5D=132171

https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/mental-health-statistics/

https://datausa.io/profile/geo/breathitt-county-ky

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dpqi/Documents/Final%20Cessation%20Survey%20Report.pdf

https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/county_profiles/US/2015/County_Report_Breathitt_County_Kentucky.pdf

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2812427

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/s1102-e-cigarettes-down.html

https://www.statista.com/chart/30995/biggest-health-concerns-among-americans/