21.
Hispanics and Tobacco
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.
v Health Effects
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 19921994, 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
v
Cigarette Smoking Prevalence
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Tobacco Industry Influence
• 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.
• 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.
REFERENCES
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).