Furthermore, smoking prevalence varied by country of birth for immigrants. For example, smoking prevalence among Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants as a whole was 11.8 percent. Yet when country of origin was considered, smoking prevalence rates ranged from 4.6 percent among Indian immigrants to 21.4 percent among Japanese immigrants.
According to the CPS Tobacco Use Supplements, an estimated 21.6 percent of the American public smokes, but when desegregated by immigrant status, the figures show that native-born respondents had higher smoking rates than foreign born--22.6 percent versus 13.4 percent. Smoking prevalence statistics broken down without regard to immigrant status show that the highest smoking prevalence was reported among American Indians (33.2 percent), followed by Whites, non-Hispanic (22.7 percent), Blacks (20.9 percent), Hispanics (15.5 percent) and Asian and Pacific Islanders (12.7 percent).
WHAT IT MEANS: By ignoring immigrant status, smoking prevalence statistics may hide segments within broadly defined racial and ethnic groups that have vastly different smoking behaviors than the aggregated group. Including findings about country of origin and immigrant status can greatly enhance the development of targeted and culturally sensitive smoking cessation programs.
Dr. Kaari Flagstad Baluja, Julie Park and Dr. Dowell Myers conducted the research under the auspices of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at the University of Southern California. The study was published in the April 2003 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
American Journal of Public Health