African Americans make up about 3 percent of Washington's population, and are primarily located in the South Puget Sound region. In 2006-2008 the combined average smoking among African Americans was about 32.2 percent. This is significantly higher than the state overall average of about 16.3 percent for the same years. Among African American adult, smokeless tobacco prevalence (<1%) appears to be less than the state as a whole (3.2%). Cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use among 10th grade African American youth in 2008 was similar to the non-Hispanic white population. The percentage of African American women smoking during pregnancy in 2007 (9.7%) was similar to the state as a whole (10.8%).

African Americans appear to be at greater risk for lung cancer, which is strongly associated with smoking. African Americans appear to have a higher incidence of lung and bronchus cancer (82.6 per 1000,000 population in 2004-2006 combined) and appear to have a higher rate of trachea, lung and bronchus cancer mortality (57.1 per 100,000 in 2004-2006 combined) than Washington State as a whole.*  For 2004-2006 combined among the general population, the incidence of lung and bronchus cancer was 67.0 per 100,000 and the rate for trachea, lung and bronchus cancer mortality was 51.3 per 100,000.

*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, 2006-2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2008 Healthy Youth Survey
(HYS), Washington State Birth Certificate data (2007), Washington State Death records (2004-2006), and the
Washington State Cancer Registry (WSCR, 2004-2006)

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.