BACKGROUND - African-American children may be more exposed to ETS than whites. However, there is a dearth of current, national data to verify this impression. If an ETS race gap exists, then it could help explain the race gap in childhood diseases, such as asthma. METHODS - A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from the 2000 NYTS, which was designed to provide nationally representative data about tobacco use among students in grades 6-12. ETS was defined 3 ways: (1) being in the same room with someone smoking cigarettes on 1+ days in the past 7 days; (2) living with a smoker (yes); and (3) perceived harm from other peoples’ cigarettes (Definitely/Probably yes). Analyses were restricted to nonsmokers (0 days/last 30 days). STATA was used to calculate weighted percentages and 95% confidence intervals (CI’s). Statistically-significant differences were indicated by non-overlapping CI’s. RESULTS – For ETS measure 1, the prevalence was 56.3% (54.0%-58.5%) in African-Americans, versus 62.5% (60.4%-64.7%) in whites. For measures 2 and 3, the percentages were 40.8% (38.1%-43.5%) versus 35.7% (33.5%-37.8%), and 87.0% (85.4%-88.6%) versus 95.4% (94.9%-95.9%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS - African-American adolescents were less likely to be in the same room with someone who smokes cigarettes. On the other hand, they were more likely to live with a smoker and less likely to perceive harm from ETS. Thus, race differences in teen ETS exposure could make a partial contribution to race differences in childhood diseases. Future analyses should examine the race gap in ETS within socioeconomic and disease strata.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the National Youth Tobacco Survey. 2. List 3 types of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure. 3. Determine which of the 3 types are more prevalent in African-American adolescents than white adolescents.
Keywords: African American, Environmental Exposures
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.