African Americans make up about 3 percent of Washington's population, and are primarily located in the South Puget Sound region. Current smoking among African Americans was about 25 percent in 2005.  This is significantly higher than the state rate of about 17.8 percent in 2005 overall. Among African American adults, smokeless tobacco prevalence (<1%) appears to be less than the state as a whole (3%). Cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use among 10th grade African American youth in 2004 was similar to the non-Hispanic white population.  The percentage of African American women smoking during pregnancy in 2004 (10.8%) was similar to the state as a whole (10.2%).

African Americans appear to be at greater risk for lung cancer, which is strongly associated with smoking.  African Americans have a significantly higher incidence of lung and bronchus cancer (83.3 per 1000,000 population in 2001-2003 combined) than Washington State (69.6 per 100,000 population) as a whole.*  African Americans also have a significantly higher rate of trachea, lung and bronchus cancer mortality in comparison to the general population. For 2001-2003 combined, the trachea, lung and bronchus cancer mortality rate was 55.2 per 100,000 among the general population and 68.2 per 100,000 among the African American population.  This is consistent with national data.

*Rate per 100,000 age-adjusted to U.S. population.
 

Challenges

The comparatively small number of African American respondents included in state surveys limits the precision of estimates to describe their tobacco use.
 

Source: Census 2000, 2005 BRFSS, 2004 Healthy Youth Survey (HYS), Washington State Birth Certificate
data (2004), Washington State Death records (2001-2003), and the Washington State Cancer Registry
(WSCR, 2001-2003)

Future directions

The state Tobacco Prevention and Control Program contracts with the Center for Multicultural Health to coordinate statewide activities within African American communities.  The center has hired a person to recruit and coordinate a community advisory board to plan, implement, and evaluate activities in African American communities.  The center and the advisory board are creating a strategic plan for their communities and seeking ways to integrate their plan into countywide strategic plans being developed in counties across the state.