Neighborhood affects smoking in Asian Americans

There’s a study in the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health which looked at factors that affect smoking habits among Asian-Americans living in California. The researchers report that tobacco use is becoming a growing public health problem in the Asian community.

For women, living in an Asian neighborhood enclave – at least 50 percent Asian – made them less likely to smoke.

Asian-Americans included people of Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and South Asian origin. Of these men, 22 percent were smokers, while 6 percent of Asian women smoked. This compares with the 19 percent of men and 16 percent women among whites who participated in the same CHIS.

"One of the more interesting findings of this study was the different effects of neighborhood characteristics by gender among Asian-Americans, and within that the differences in Asian subgroups," said Tamara Dubowitz, an associate policy researcher at RAND. She said such findings "suggest that examining country of origin among immigrant populations is essential."

Ladies! Don’t you know smoking is bad for your health! In the United States, smoking is estimated to account for 87% of lung cancer cases (90% in men and 85% in women!

Visit www.apha.org