Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Louisa Degenhardt and colleagues report an international survey of 17 countries that finds clear differences in drug use across different regions of the world

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Report of Physician-Provided Smoking Cessation Advice: Analysis of the 2000 National Health Interview Survey

Objectives. We explored racial/ethnic disparities in reports of smoking cessation advice among smokers who had visited a physician in the previous year. Also, we examined the likelihood of receipt of such advice across Hispanic subgroups and levels of English proficiency. Methods. We analyzed data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey. Results. Nearly half of the 5652 respondents reported receiving smoking cessation advice from their doctor. Compared with Hispanics, and after control for a range of other factors, respondents in the non-Hispanic White (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.2, 2.0), non-Hispanic Black (adjusted OR=1.44, 95% CI=1.0, 2.0), and other non-Hispanic (adjusted OR=2.19, 95% CI=1.3, 3.6) groups were significantly more likely to report receiving advice. English proficiency was not associated with receipt of physician advice among Hispanic smokers. Conclusions. Some 16 million smokers in the United States could not recall receiving advice to quit smoking from their physician in the preceding year. These missed opportunities, compounded by racial/ethnic disparities such as those observed between Hispanics and other groups and between Hispanic subgroups, suggest that considerably greater effort is needed to diminish the toll stemming from smoking and smoking-related diseases

Effects of husbands' and wives' education on each other's mortality

Education is an important predictor of one's own cardiovascular disease (CVD) and overall mortality. Little is known, however, regarding the effect of other individuals, specifically a spouse, on these risks. In the present study, we examine the contribution of a spouse's educational attainment and the effect of educational discrepancy between spouses on CVD and overall mortality. Data were taken from the Israel Longitudinal Mortality Study, which linked a 20% sample of the 1983 census to mortality records through 1992. The study cohort comprised 37,618 married couples aged 45-69 years. During the 9.5-year follow-up 6058 men and 2568 women died. Overall and CVD mortality hazard ratios were calculated using Cox proportional hazard regression models. We found that the educational attainment of both spouses were significant predictors of one's own overall mortality. For CVD mortality, however, a wife's educational attainment was a stronger predictor of her husband's risk of dying than his own educational level, while for women a husband's education had little affect. Educational discrepancy between partners did not affect overall mortality and had a varied effect on CVD mortality by sex. Specifically, highly educated women had an almost two-fold increased risk of CVD mortality when married to less educated husbands, while lesser-educated women were not affected by their spouses' educational attainment. Spouses' education adds valuable information when assessing mortality differentials among married persons, and socioeconomic characteristics of one's immediate family are important influences on one's health.Cardiovascular disease Education Mortality Socioeconomic status Spouse Israel