RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Practice-based Assessment of Tobacco Usage in Southwestern Primary Care Patients: A Research Involving Outpatient Settings Network (RIOS Net) Study
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 174
OP 180
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2007.02.060018
VO 20
IS 2
A1 Ralston, Shawn
A1 Kellett, Nicole
A1 Williams, Robert L.
A1 Schmitt, Cheryl
A1 North, Charles Q.
YR 2007
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/20/2/174.abstract
AB Purpose: Primary care clinicians rely, perhaps erroneously, on general population-based data about risk factors to help form their strategies for allocating time in the brief primary care encounter. We conducted a case study using rates of tobacco usage among people presenting for primary care to explore comparability to general population-based rates.Methods: Clinicians in RIOS Net, a practice-based research network, gathered data on tobacco use for all patients presenting during a 2-week period. We compared those data to population-based data by gender and ethnicity.Results: Ninety-one primary care clinicians reported data on 2442 patients. Primary care smoking rates differed in important ways from general population-based rates. Hispanic women smoked at more than twice the national population-based rate (25% vs 12%). Youth smoked at higher rates as well, particularly young Native American men.Conclusions: Patients seen in primary care differ in important ways in rates and patterns of tobacco usage when compared with rates reported in population-based surveys. These differences could have important implications for preventive care within the context of multiple competing demands in the primary care encounter.