BACKGROUND

1. Smoking profile of the Gay and Lesbian Community in IrelandSheila Keogan, Zubair Kabir, Vanessa Clarke, Laura Currie, Luke Clancy Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society, Dublin, Ireland RESULTS MULTIVARIABLE LOGISTIC MODELS Older adults (OR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.37- 3.06) and post-graduate education (OR: 2.17; 95%CI: 1.15 -4.09) are significant correlates of smoking cessation among the GLC in Ireland. QUITTING BEHAVIOUR Two-thirds of the smokers intend to quit smoking Most of them make more than one attempt to quit The mean age of quitting was almost 29 years Very few former smokers among the GLC took NRT or any form of medications to assist them in quitting tobacco use CONCLUSION One of the few studies reporting that smoking rates among the GLC are not significantly different from the general population GLC in Ireland smoke heavier than the general Irish population GLC belonging to upper socio-economic groups not only smoke heavier but also the smoking rates are higher than the general Irish population of the same SES The higher smoking rates among the upper socio-economic groups of the GLC point to the earlier stage of the tobacco epidemic Significant correlates of smoking cessation were also identified Targeted smoking interventions might help prevent the development of a tobacco epidemic among the GLC in Ireland ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding Department of Health and Children; Office of Tobacco Control; Royal City Dublin Hospital Trust; Out Now Consulting GCN Magazine BACKGROUND Analyses of tobacco marketing has demonstrated gay and lesbian community (GLC) as an emerging target community. The few studies published so far on smoking prevalence in the US and the UK have consistently shown that smoking prevalence rates are higher among the GLC when compared with heterosexual or general populations. No such information on the smoking profile of the GLC in Ireland is available to date. STUDY OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that smoking rates among the GLC in Ireland is lower than those reported in other countries. Alternatively, smoking rates among the GLC are not significantly different from the general Irish population. METHODS A non-probability sampling of self-identified GLC was recruited using electronic and print media advertisements between December 2006 and March 2007 1,113 respondents had complete information Assessment of smoking prevalence was based on the question “Do you smoke cigarettes (yes/no)?” The Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) telephone-based monthly survey data were analyzed for the Irish population for the same period (n=4,000). STATISTICAL ANALYSES Mean ‘current’ and ‘heavy’ [≥20 cigarettes/day] smoking rates across the two populations surveyed were compared across age, gender and socio-economic groups (SES), using Proc tt test command in SAS (version 9.1) Pearson χ2 tests were performed for the bivariable associations studied, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify significant correlates of former smokers among the GLC P=0.02 P=0.99 P<0.001 NS P=0.003 P=0.01 NS NS NS P<0.001