Research

African-American male smokers are more likely to get cancer
Researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii analyzed data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study and found that African-Americans and ethnic Hawaiians are about 55% more likely than whites, Japanese Americans, and Latinos to develop lung cancer as a result of light to moderate smoking. The study was published in the January 26th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Click for the study abstract.

Study shows more Hispanic women and teenagers smoking
Researchers from the University of California reviewed eleven studies involving 27,000 Hispanics in America, finding that the longer Latino women live in the United States, the more likely they are to smoke. In addition, results from the 2004 National Health Interview Survey indicate that nearly 21% of Hispanic high-school students smoked that year. Even though Hispanics in America smoke less than other racial ethnic groups, Katherine Culliton with the nonprofit National Latino Council of Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention believes the tobacco industry is deliberately targeting Latinos. Click for more information (free registration required).

Black and white teens metabolize nicotine differently
Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse have found that some of the racial and ethnic differences underlying how adults' bodies metabolize nicotine also are at work during adolescence. The findings have implications for the way teens of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are provided smoking cessation treatments. The study is published in the January 2006 issue of Ethnicity and Disease. Click for more information on the study.

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Arkansas:
 
Arkansas targets Hispanics for anti-smoking campaign
Arkansas health officials are strongly promoting a campaign aimed at stopping smoking among the state’s Hispanic population. Cesar Compadre, head of La Casa, an organization in Arkansas that works to improve health care access for the state’s Hispanics, recently commented, “Many people believe Latinos and other people of color are not smoking, but that’s not the case.” Click for more information.

California:
 
Smoking prevalence related to English proficiency among Asian Americans in California
A study in the December 2005 issue of Cancer found that smoking prevalence rates among Asian Americans in California differed significantly on the basis of ethnicity, gender, and English proficiency. Data from the 2001 The California Health Interview Survey were analyzed to provide smoking prevalence estimates for all Asian Americans and Asian-American subgroups, including Korean, Filipino, Japanese, South Asian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Cigarette smoking prevalence among Asian males in general was almost three times of that among Asian females. Korean and Vietnamese males had higher cigarette smoking prevalence rates than males in other subgroups. Asian men who had high English proficiency were less likely to be smokers than men with lower English proficiency, whereas Asian women with high English proficiency were more likely to be smokers than women with lower English proficiency. Click for the complete study.

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