Navigation, Contact Info, and Legend for the OSH Website
• View By Topic
• Quick Links
• About this Office
Contact Info
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Office on Smoking and Health
Tel: 1-800-CDC-INFO
(1-800-232-4636)
TTY: 1-888-232-6348
E-mail: tobaccoinfo@cdc.gov
Legend
= Link to a PDF document
(Adobe Acrobat™ Reader needs to be installed on your computer in order to read PDF documents.)
Download the Reader
= Link to nonfederal Web site
Disclaimer on nonfederal Web sites
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWRs)
Prevalence of Cigarette Use Among 14 Racial/Ethnic Populations—United States, 1999–2001
January 30, 2004 / Vol. 53 / No. 3
MMWR Highlights
- The prevalence of cigarette smoking varied among the racial/ethnic populations, from 40.4% to 12.3%, respectively, among American Indian and
Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and Chinese adults (i.e., aged >18 years), and from 27.9% to 5.2%, respectively, among AI/AN and Japanese youth (i.e., aged
12–17 years).
- Current smoking rates are attributed to multiple factors including socioeconomic status, cultural characteristics,
acculturation, stress, targeted advertising, price of cigarettes, parental and community disapproval of smoking, and varying capacities of
communities to mount effective tobacco control initiatives.
Adults
- Among adults aged 18 years and older, American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) had the highest cigarette smoking prevalence (40.4%).
- Non-Hispanic black adults had a similar prevalence of cigarette smoking (25.7%) than that of non-Hispanic whites (27.4
%).
- The following adult racial/ethnic groups had a lower cigarette smoking prevalence than that of non-Hispanic whites (27.4
%): Chinese (12.3%), Filipino (14.8%), Japanese (19.0%), Asian Indian (12.6%), Mexican (22.8%), Central or
South American (21.3%), and Cuban (19.2%).
- Among adults, smoking prevalence varied by gender among all racial/ethnic groups except for American Indian and Alaska
Natives (AI/AN), Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Men generally had a higher smoking prevalence than women from the same racial/ethnic group (i.e.,
Chinese men versus Chinese women, Mexican men versus Mexican women).
- Adult smoking rates also vary among subgroups within the “Asian” and “Hispanic” racial/ethnic categories (i.e., Korean rates
higher than Chinese or Asian Indian, Vietnamese rates higher than Chinese, Puerto Rican rates higher than Mexican or Central or South American).
Youth
- Among youth ages 12–17 years, American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) had the highest cigarette smoking prevalence (27.9
%), followed by non-Hispanic whites (16.0%).
- The prevalence of cigarette smoking among non-Hispanic white youth was higher (16.0%) than that among
non-Hispanic blacks (7.0%), Chinese (5.8%), Filipinos (7.4%), Japanese (5.2%), Asian Indians (8.7%), Vietnamese
(6.8%), Mexicans (11.0%), Puerto Ricans (10.8%), and Central or South Americans (9.6%).
- Among non-Hispanic white youth, females had a higher prevalence of cigarette smoking (17.2%) than males (14.9%).
Among non-Hispanic black youth, males had a higher prevalence of cigarette smoking (8.2%) than females (5.9%).
Page last reviewed 02/28/2007
Page last modified 02/28/2007