The Surgeon General's Report Documents Disturbing Trends in Tobacco Use. Teen smoking rates rose dramatically among African Americans and Hispanics from 1991 to 1997. Smoking rates among African American high school students were up by a startling 80 percent, and smoking rates among Hispanic high school students increased by 34 percent. Smoking among white high school students increased from 31 to 40 percent. From 1990 to 1995, cigarette smoking increased by 17 percent among Asian American 12th graders and by 26 percent among their American Indian and Alaska Native counterparts.
Cigarette smoking is a major cause of death and disease among all minority and ethnic groups.
The increase in youth smoking threatens to reverse recent progress made against lung cancer among these groups. African-American men bear the greatest health burdens from lung cancer, with death rates about 50 percent higher than whites. Smoking increases infant mortality and low birth weight. The risk of low birth weight babies is almost twice as high for smokers than for non-smokers. Among smokers, the rate of sudden infant death syndrome is particularly high among Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans.