each of the eight GL states. Data were weighted for age, gender, and state of residence to reﬂect the 2000 Census demographics. Our study cohort underrepresented black residents and lower income households. Fish consumption. On the basis of weight- ing of the survey data, > 80% of the adults liv- ing in this region had eaten some type of ﬁsh during the previous 12 months. Most of the population consumed only commercial fish (any type of fish purchased and not caught; Table 2). Nearly 70% specifically reported consumption of canned or fresh tuna, reveal- ing the popularity of this type of commercial ﬁsh (Table 1). Fewer than one quarter (22%) had eaten any sport-caught ﬁsh, and only 7% (~ 4.2-million residents) had eaten fish that were caught from one of the Great Lakes. Although the percentage of men and women who consume fish (any type) was nearly the same (85% vs. 83%, respectively), men were more likely to eat sport-caught ﬁsh (p < 0.0001) and GL sport-caught fish (p = 0.0064) than were women. Conversely, women were more likely to have ingested tuna than were men (p < 0.0001). Regardless of whether the fish was commercial or sport caught, consumption prevalence was positively correlated with household income (p-values < 0.0001). Consumption prevalences for “any type of fish” and tuna were correlated with education (p < 0.0001); however, sport-caught fish and GL sport-caught fish consumption prevalences were not correlated with educa- tional attainment. The percentage of residents who included fish and sport-caught fish in their diets varied from state to state. Consumption of any type of ﬁsh ranged from 80% among Indiana residents to 87% among residents of Wisconsin. Sport-caught ﬁsh con- sumption was much more common in the Midwest than in the eastern states, ranging from 44% in Minnesota and 39% in Wisconsin to 15% in New York and 16% in Pennsylvania (Table 1). Although the sample was too small to sup- port extensive analysis by race or ethnicity, overall fish consumption rates were similar among black and white adults and lower among other/unknown races. This difference was statistically signiﬁcant between white adults and those of other or unknown races (p < 0.0002). White residents were signiﬁcantly more likely than black residents and residents of other/unknown races to have consumed tuna (p < 0.01) or sport-caught fish (p < 0.05). Adults reporting other/unknown races were sig- niﬁcantly less likely to eat GL sport ﬁsh than were white or black adults (p < 0.05). As shown in Table 2, most adults in these states (63%) consumed commercial fish but had not eaten any sport-caught ﬁsh during the 12-month recall period. This did not differ sig- niﬁcantly from the 1993–1994 study (62%). Environmental Health Perspectives • VOLUME 113 | NUMBER 10 | October 2005 Among those who ate ﬁsh, the average number of meals eaten (from all sources) ranged from 44/year among those who consumed only commercial ﬁsh to 53/year among those who had eaten sport-caught fish from the Great Lakes. Based on a t-test of the means of the log of the number of ﬁsh meals per year, the con- sumption rates reported by consumers of “commercial ﬁsh only” were signiﬁcantly lower than those who included “GL sport-caught ﬁsh” in their diets (p = 0.044). Although the difference in means for these two fish con- sumer groups was less in the 1993–1994 study (46 meals/year vs. 48 meals/year), this differ- ence also proved statistically signiﬁcant when conducting a t-test of means of the logs (p =0.0007). There was, however, no statisti- cally signiﬁcant difference across time periods. For those who ate GL sport-caught fish, the average number of GL sport-fish meals consumed per year was 13. This consumption rate was higher among men than among women (14 vs. 11, respectively), but the differ- ence was not statistically signiﬁcant. Most respondents who consumed GL sport-caught ﬁsh did so fewer than 12 times a year (range, 1–126). Depending on the type and size of the ﬁsh consumed, this rate is likely to comply with most GL fish consumption advisories. As shown in Figure 1, a small per- centage of the men (10%) and women (3%) in this group ate GL ﬁsh > 35 times a year, or about 3 times a month (this gender difference was not statistically significant). Between 1993–1994 and 2001–2002, the proportion of women who ate > 35 GL sport-fish meals/year decreased significantly from 8 to 3% (p = 0.0418). This equates to a decrease from approximately 158,000–59,000 women Men Women 1,000 900 )s 800 and 700 su 600 tho 500 ( sn 400 rso 300 eP 200 100 No. of meals per year 0 1 to < 12 12–24 25–52 53–104 > 104 Total 0 1 to < 6 6–11 12–23 24–35 Meals per year > 35 Figure 1. GL sport-fish meals per year among GL sport-ﬁsh consumers (weighted). Table 3. Frequency of ﬁsh consumption by gender. Weighted population estimate (%) Men Women 4,097,000 (14) 3,452,000 (12) 9,074,000 (32) 7,762,000 (27) 2,960,000 (10) 1,342,000 (5) 28,687,000 5,297,000 (17) 4,054,000 (13) 8,141,000 (25) 9,269,000 (29) 3,740,000 (12) 1,513,000 (5) 32,014,000 Fish consumption and advisory awareness who live in the Great Lakes Basin. The per- centage of men in this high-consumption group did not change significantly over this time period. Overall, the estimated number of GL sport-fish consumers who ate GL sport- caught ﬁsh > 35 times per year declined from 402,000 in 1993–1994 to 286,000 in 2001–2002. The most popular types of GL sport- caught ﬁsh were walleye number of people (n) = 156), perch, smelt (n = 152); rainbow trout, chinook, coho salmon (n = 139); lake trout (n = 121); and “other” sport-caught fish (n = 78). Brown trout (n = 40) and carp and catﬁsh (n = 33) were less frequently ingested by GL sport-ﬁsh consumers. As shown in Table 3, most adults who live in the GL states eat fish up to once a week (52 meals/year). Table 4 provides demographic descriptors and population estimates for people who consume fish more than twice a week. This subgroup comprises a high-risk popula- tion for exposure to PCBs, methylmercury, and other persistent contaminants found in Table 4. Description of GL state residents who con- sume fish more than twice a week ( > 104 meals/ year). Demographic characteristic n Population estimate Weighted (%) 23 18 58 47 53 8 21 28 43 10 12 8 13 41 17 13 6 11 4 37 12 12 5 73 15 12 100 1327 Age (years) 18–34 39 35–44 33 ≥ 45 112 Gender Male 81 Female 109 Education Less than high school 13 High school graduate 38 Some college 45 College graduate 93 Household income ($) < 15,000 19 15,000–24,999 25 25,000–34,999 19 35,000–49,999 22 ≥ 50,000 76 Unknown 29 State Illinois 24 Indiana 19 Michigan 24 Minnesota 14 New York 46 Ohio 23 Pennsylvania 22 Wisconsin 18 Type of consumer Commercial only 132 Sport ﬁsh (non-GL) 30 GL sport ﬁsh 25 Total 190 641,000 503,000 1,611,000 1,342,000 1,513,000 219,000 589,000 803,000 1,223,000 276,000 345,000 223,000 377,000 1,162,000 471,000 376,000 161,000 324,000 107,000 1,054,000 352,000 342,000 140,000 2,034,000 425,000 343,000 2,855,000 Consumption of more than two fish meals per week exceeds the U.S. EPA/U.S. FDA recommended amount. There were missing values for education and age demo- graphics because of partial completion of survey or refusal. Type of consumer categories match those of Table 2 and are mutually exclusive.