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Hispanics and Tobacco
Health Effects |
Cigarette Smoking
Prevalence | Prevalence of other
forms of tobacco use | Tobacco Industry
Influence | References |
Approximately 31.3
million (11.2%) Americans are of Latin American or other Spanish descent.
By 2005, Hispanics are expected to surpass African Americans as the nation’s
second largest racial/ethnic group, behind non-Hispanic whites.1
Most Hispanic Americans are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or
South/Central American ancestry. Although cultural differences exist among
subgroups, most Hispanics speak Spanish and are Roman Catholic. Hispanic
Americans have settled across the United States; however, 84% reside in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico,
New York, and Texas.2 Population survey data results vary,
depending on the location and the language used in the surveys.
- Smoking is
responsible for 87% of the lung cancer deaths in the United States.
Overall, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among
Hispanics.3
- Lung cancer deaths
are about three times higher for Hispanic men (23.1 per 100,000)
than for Hispanic women (7.7 per 100,000). The rate of lung cancer
deaths per 100,000 were higher among Cuban American men (33.7) than
among Puerto Rican (28.3) and Mexican American (21.9) men.3
- Coronary heart
disease is the leading cause of death for Hispanics living in the
United States. Among Hispanic subgroups in 1992–1994, death rates
for coronary heart disease were 82 per 100,000 for Mexican American
men and 44.2 per 100,000 for Mexican American women, 118.6 per
100,000 for Puerto Rican men and 67.3 per 100,000 for Puerto Rican
women, and 95.2 per 100,000 for Cuban men and 42.4 per 100,000
for Cuban women.3
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- The 1997
National Health Interview Survey data show that overall current smoking
prevalence among Hispanic adults was 20.4%, compared with 16.9% for
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, 25.3% for whites, 26.7% for
African Americans, and 34.1% for American Indians and Alaska Natives.4
- In 1997,
26.2% of Hispanic men smoked compared with 27.4% of white men. The
smoking rate among Hispanic women was 14.3 %, compared with 23.3% among
white women.4
- The
Monitoring the Future Study shows that cigarette smoking among Hispanic
high school seniors declined from 35.7% in 1977 to 20.6% in 1989;
however, smoking prevalence has been increasing in the 1990s — from
21.7% in 1990 to 27.3% in 1999.5
- The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s 1999 Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System (YRBSS) found that about one-third of Hispanic high
school students in grades 9 through 12 were current cigarette smokers.
Smoking prevalence increased by one-third among Hispanic students from
1991 (25.3%) to 1997 (34.0%). Recent YRBSS data shows that current
smoking trends among Hispanic students remain high, but appeared to have
plateaued with no statistically significant difference between 1997 and
1999 — 34.0% and 32.7%, respectively.6
- The 1999
National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) estimates that current cigarette
smoking prevalence use by racial/ethnic groups was higher among white
high school students (32.8%) than among Hispanic (25.8%) and African
American (15.8%) students. However, the rate of smoking among middle
school students by racial/ethnic groups was relatively similar; about 1
in 10 Hispanic (11.0%), African American (9.0%), and white (8.8%) middle
school students reported smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days.7
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- Aggregated
National Health Interview Survey data from 1987 and 1991 show that more
Cuban American men (2.5%) smoked cigars than Mexican American (1.5%) and
Puerto Rican (1.3%) men.3
- The 1999 YRBS
study found that 21.9% of Hispanic male high school students reported
smoking a cigar on one or more days during the past month compared with
about 28.3% of white male and 16.0% of African American male students.6
- The 1999 NYTS
shows that among high school students, 13.4% of Hispanics, 14.8% of
African Americans, and 16.0% of whites smoked cigars, and that among middle
school students, 7.6% of Hispanics, 8.8% of African Americans, and 4.9%
of whites smoked cigars in the past 30 days.7
- The 1999 NYTS
found that smokeless tobacco use among middle and high school for white
male students was 3.0% and 8.7%, respectively, for Hispanic male
students 2.2% and 3.6%, respectively, and for African American students
1.9% and 2.4%, respectively.7
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- Tobacco
products are advertised and promoted disproportionately to racial/ethnic
minority communities. Examples of target promotions include the
introduction of a cigarette product with the brand name "Rio"
and an earlier cigarette product named "Dorado," which was
advertised and marketed to the Hispanic American community.3
- To increase
its credibility in the Hispanic community, the tobacco industry has
contributed to programs that aim to enhance the primary and secondary
education of children, has funded universities and colleges, and has
supported scholarship programs targeting Hispanics. Tobacco companies
have also placed advertising in many Hispanic publications. The industry
also contribute to cultural Hispanic events and provide significant
support to the Hispanic art community.3,8
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1. United States
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. U.S. Census Facts for
Hispanic Americans, http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfiles3-1.txt.
2. United States
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. U.S. Census Facts for
Hispanic Americans, http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/state/srh/srhus96.txt.
3. U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic
Minority Groups — African Americans, American Indians and Alaska
Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics: A Report
of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998.
4. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Cigarette smoking among adults–United States,
1997. MMWR 1999; 48: 993-6.
5. The University of
Michigan. Cigarette Smoking Among American Teens Continues Gradual
Decline (press release). December 17, 1999.
6. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Youth risk behavior surveillance–United
States, 1999. MMWR 2000; 49, No. SS-5.
7. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco use among middle and high school
students–United States, 1999. MMWR 2000; 49: 49-53.
8. Glode WF. RJR
puts on the Ritz, PM goes to Rio. Advertising Age 1985
(56.2):1, 78; Leviten P. Manufacturers send changing smoking signals. Supermarket Business 1985 (40.12):39-43; and
Walters DKH. Cigarettes: Makers Aim at Special Niches to Boost
Sales. Los Angeles Times 1985 Sept 15; Business Section:1 (col
3).
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